I’ve been a big fan of Eli Beard since his days in And The Relatives. His output since that time has consistent and voluminous – though usually for other people (I think he’s the bass player for How I Became the Bomb now, is that right?). Occasionally, he releases one of his own creations under the moniker relax with fiction and it’s always an interesting little dance-y treat. Dive in.

There was a time that I would have called They Might Be Giants my #1 favorite band. It wasn’t exactly a “cool” part of my personality but I was unapologetically in love with the crazy range of musical styles, off the wall executions and, often, incredibly clever and fun lyrics.

So, upon encountering Charles Butler’s EP of re-imagined TMBG songs done with banjo and other unexpected instrumentation, I was already In. The lyrical play that I enjoy so much is missing but hearing a steel drum in “Particle Man” and “Hey Mr DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal” more than completely makes up for it. 

Recently stumbled upon the dreamy pop offerings of Wildfront and am quite enjoying. The album art and band photo drew me in but the sweet melancholy airy melodies kept me around. Get into this and pay attention, they’ve hopefully got more goodness to offer the world.

It’s not easy to give much of an insightful review on a 14-minute improvised drone performance but I can’t help but be excited about the existence of these sounds emitting from a Nashville based artist. We’re all well aware of the fact that Nashville is so much more than pop country and schlocky rock but these kinds of creations really push the needle in the other direction.

I love an ambitious undertaking and the 32′s project from Dirty Bandana’s project certainly falls into that category. From the horses mouth:

This is an experiment.

It became obvious to me that I needed to produce art. So I decided to write and record 32 measures of music every weekday. For now it’s just me putting these together, but I’m excited for guest artists and collaborations.

The results are mixed but that’s entirely the point. Keep creating, keep recording, keep Showing Your Work. It can only, ultimately, yield good things.

The first song from HeCTA was official released today. The band, consisting of Kurt Wagner, Ryan Norris and Scott Martin, is likely not what you’d expect to hear when you see Wagner’s name. It’s heavily beat driven, dance-y and a conscious effort to create outside of the norm. The full album, The Diet, will be released in mid-September.

There’s a certain breed of lo-fi, drawling, loose psych rock that Nashville manages to do quite well. I’d not heard of MELT or BUMMRcity prior to this split but I’d be willing to bet they are a sweaty good time to see live.