I love it when I stumble across an artist I’ve never heard of and their Bandcamp offerings are marked as “Demo†– yet they stand as compelling, finished pieces of work. The two tracks available from Also This are great. There’s a great combo of effected guitar tones and languid vocals. Who cares that this is a demo, it’s going into heavy rotation.
EXVRBS – Light Sleeper
Though Jim Valosik’s EXVRBS project is described as “dark fingerstyle acoustic guitar†there’s clearly more going on here with this new release. This is not your standard acoustic dicking around. It’s two relatively short tracks but they show Mr. Valosik has plenty of ideas to share outside of a four word quick description.
*repeat repeat “Mostlyâ€
The first track from repeat repeat’s forthcoming sophomore album, floral canyon, has been released and it’s got a compelling, fuzzy, dark vibe to it. Can’t wait to hear more of this.
Unruly Factions: Volume 1
What is Unruly Factions? It’s a collective of underground Nashville musicians creating a wide variety of different music. Hardcore, metal, hip-hop, indie and ambient styles are all represented throughout this first compilation. Stream it on Soundcloud or procure it on Bandcamp.
Unruly Factions: Volume 1 is the first installment in an ongoing mixtape series curated by Unruly Factions Recordings. “UF: Vol 1” is a compilation of ALL UNRELEASED songs from progressive up-an-comers from Nashville’s underground.
Secret Club “I Do What I Wantâ€
Rock and Roll is alive and well in Nashville, TN.Â
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
James Wallace “Mighty Eye†– Pink House Session
I dunno when the Pink House Sessions started but they’ve got a handful of wonderful performances to enjoy. The latest, from James Wallace, is a perfectly intimate acoustic performance that showcases Wallace’s voice in all the right ways.
The full story behind the sessions themselves is pretty fascinating – Langhorne Slim purchased the pink home and invited his friends from La Blogotheque to record a series of performances from the likes of Dawes, Jonny Fritz, Andrew Combs, Evan P Donohue and many more. Dive in.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Reno Bo – Lessons from a Shooting Star
Preview the first track, “Sweetheart Dealâ€, from Reno Bo’s forthcoming full-length. It’s some delicious pop peppered with just the right dose of melancholy. The album will be available June 22nd.
V to Z “Alamo Goâ€
The fifth installment of monthly releases from Joshua Moore – aka V to Z. Nice high energy undertaking this go around. Will listen again.
Sol Cat – Uno (Preview)
I dunno what happened but at some point I decided that Sol Cat was a hippie jam band that wasn’t BAD but just wasn’t in my wheelhouse. However, upon seeing the artwork for their new EP, Uno, I decided to reconsider that baseless opinion and revisit their offerings. If the first track, “Tumbleweedâ€, is any indication of what’s in store for the rest of the EP, I couldn’t have been more wrong. There’s a sinister undertone to these dance-y grooves and I like it. Maybe a whole lot.
The full EP will be available next Tuesday, May 26th.
→
We Own This Town – Volume 67
Curated by Elizabeth Cameron of Forget Cassettes
Chalk it up to years of touring and being nailed to women-only bills, but I have a slight irritation of ‘female centric’ lists, line-ups, bios, and press. However, I do think it’s imperative to point out that the gender gap is no closer to closing in 2015 than it was in 1995. The Guardian recently published this statistic: This year, 89.6% of the acts confirmed for Reading and Leeds are all-male. These are not the only festivals that seem to have a gender bias going on. Some execs have cited oversights, others have said it’s just a matter of availability. With this kind of denial, we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re still dealing with women artists being ‘othered’ and treated as token minorities in mainstream music.
Here’s my short list of some of Nashville’s most talented ladies. I chose to stay in more rock/pop territory because I think Nashville is still pretty under represented when it comes to genres other than country, folk, and americana. In that case, I want to make sure I mention Margo Price, Caitlin Rose, Birdcloud, Those Darlins, Alana Royale, and Thelma and the Sleaze for working their asses off to make this town brim with great music. I’m also looking forward to new music by Adia Victoria, the Dead Deads, and Ariel Bui. Some of the artists I chose for this playlist are great friends, some are acquaintances, and some I barely know – but all I deeply respect for their artistry. Each of these songs are very special to me. When I was growing up here and starting to play music, I was aware of only a teaspoon of female musicians in this town. Today, Nashville has a healthy tablespoon. This progress excites me.
“We keep coming back to the question of representation because identity is always about representation. People forget that when they wanted white women to get into the workforce because of the world war, what did they start doing? They started having a lot of commercials, a lot of movies, a lot of things that were redoing the female image, saying, ‘Hey, you can work for the war, but you can still be feminine.’ So what we see is that the mass media, film, TV, all of these things, are powerful vehicles for maintaining the kinds of systems of domination we live under, imperialism, racism, sexism etc. Often there’s a denial of this and art is presented as politically neutral, as though it is not shaped by a reality of domination.â€
-bell hooks
SUPPORT THESE FINE PEOPLE
Southern Girls Rock n Roll Camp
TN Teens Rock Camp
YEAH
TRACKLISTING
Bully – I Remember
Churchyard – Staring at the Sun
Cortney Tidwell – 17 Horses
Elle Macho – Bombs.m4a
Idle Bloom – Fare Fumo
Jasmin Kaset – Food
Natalie Prass – My Baby Don’t Understand Me
POLY – Shears
Ponychase – House in the Valley
Tristen – Winter Night
Podcast: Download
Subscribe: RSS
Volume 67
THIS EPISODE IS CURATED BY Elizabeth Cameron of Forget Cassettes.
Chalk it up to years of touring and being nailed to women-only bills, but I have a slight irritation of ‘female centric’ lists, line-ups, bios, and press. However, I do think it’s imperative to point out that the gender gap is no closer to closing in 2015 than it was in 1995. The Guardian recently published this statistic: This year, 89.6% of the acts confirmed for Reading and Leeds are all-male. These are not the only festivals that seem to have a gender bias going on. Some execs have cited oversights, others have said it’s just a matter of availability. With this kind of denial, we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re still dealing with women artists being ‘othered’ and treated as token minorities in mainstream music.
Here’s my short list of some of Nashville’s most talented ladies. I chose to stay in more rock/pop territory because I think Nashville is still pretty under represented when it comes to genres other than country, folk, and americana. In that case, I want to make sure I mention Margo Price, Caitlin Rose, Birdcloud, Those Darlins, Alana Royale, and Thelma and the Sleaze for working their asses off to make this town brim with great music. I’m also looking forward to new music by Adia Victoria, the Dead Deads, and Ariel Bui. Some of the artists I chose for this playlist are great friends, some are acquaintances, and some I barely know – but all I deeply respect for their artistry. Each of these songs are very special to me. When I was growing up here and starting to play music, I was aware of only a teaspoon of female musicians in this town. Today, Nashville has a healthy tablespoon. This progress excites me.Â
“We keep coming back to the question of representation because identity is always about representation. People forget that when they wanted white women to get into the workforce because of the world war, what did they start doing? They started having a lot of commercials, a lot of movies, a lot of things that were redoing the female image, saying, ‘Hey, you can work for the war, but you can still be feminine.’ So what we see is that the mass media, film, TV, all of these things, are powerful vehicles for maintaining the kinds of systems of domination we live under, imperialism, racism, sexism etc. Often there’s a denial of this and art is presented as politically neutral, as though it is not shaped by a reality of domination.â€Â
-bell hooks
- Bully – I Remember
- Churchyard – Staring at the Sun
- Cortney Tidwell – 17 Horses
- Elle Macho – Bombs
- Idle Bloom – Fare Fumo
- Jasmin Kaset – Food
- Natalie Prass – My Baby Don’t Understand Me
- POLY – Shears
- Ponychase – House in the Valley
- Tristen – Winter Night
Podcast: Download
Subscribe: RSS
Omniscient Art – The Rift
The beauty of browsing Bandcamp to find some new Nashville gem is that sometimes you find something really surprising. The instrumental album, The Rift, from Omniscient Art is influenced by hip-hop, shoegaze, symphonic touches and even the avant-garde. Even the cover art is a treat – glitched out just perfectly so. Definitely did not expect to stumble on this today but I’m adding it to the collection stat.