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Posted Mon May 18, 2015

We Own This Town – Volume 67
Curated by Elizabeth Cameron of Forget Cassettes

STREAM | Download

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.”
-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

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Volume 67

Posted Mon May 18, 2015 from WOTT Music
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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. 


“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.” 
-bell hooks

  1. Bully – I Remember
  2. Churchyard – Staring at the Sun
  3. Cortney Tidwell – 17 Horses
  4. Elle Macho – Bombs
  5. Idle Bloom – Fare Fumo
  6. Jasmin Kaset – Food
  7. Natalie Prass – My Baby Don’t Understand Me
  8. POLY – Shears
  9. Ponychase – House in the Valley
  10. Tristen – Winter Night

Podcast: Download

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Omniscient Art – The Rift

Posted Wed May 13, 2015

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.

JOTA ESE – Super Dank IV

Posted Tue May 12, 2015

The sounds of JOTA ESE continue to get more realized and immersive with each release. The tracks are, mostly, quite short but they create such a distinct atmosphere in that short amount of time. The samples seem to stem from sources ranging from jazz, hip-hop and conversations snatched from the outside world. It’s often a dark journey but always an engaging one.

Broken Bats – Broken Bats EP

Posted Wed May 6, 2015

Matt Bell has a long list of projects under his belt – Silent Friction, Pink Spiders and the Dozen Dimes to name a few. His latest, Broken Bats, comes out of the gate with the kind of rock earnesty you’d expect and hope for. Lots of big riffs, memorable hooks and, for lack of a better word, serious licks. Yea, I said it, there’s licks in here – of the guitar variety. Great way to start your summer.

Truth Clipsy – The LION EP

Posted Wed May 6, 2015

I’ve been a casual fan of Truth Clipsy since he first appeared (on my radar) with JOTA ESE back in 2012. He’s continued to put out a solid body of work since then and continues to do so with The LION. The style of beats runs through a nice varietal – rock influence, club electronics and maybe even a bit of chiptune here and there. His vocals always take presence front-and-center but that’s clearly not his only skill.

Faux Ferocious – Beaumont

Posted Thu April 30, 2015

On Faux Ferocious latest, Beautmont, There’s a nice balance of the bombastic rock onslaught you expect (see “Let Me Get In Your Head”) and a more balanced, tension filled release. It’s a short EP but plenty of fist pumping goodness from start to finish.

Bravemaker “Happy Pills”

Posted Wed April 29, 2015

Love the building tension throughout this dark pop song from Bravemaker. I don’t know much about these guys but if this is any indication of what to expect from them, I’m in.

Nightblonde Demos

Posted Tue April 28, 2015

You may have noticed a demo in the last podcast from a band called Nightblonde. Who are these mysterious folks? Well, they’re a new outfit focused on making a blend of electronic, ambient and pop with an eye towards retro-futuristic themes. Or, at least, that’s what I can gleam from the three demo’s they’ve posted and the tags they used to describe themselves. 

I’m real into “I Belong In Your Arms” – as it has that forelorn 80′s synth-pop slant to it but they’re all quality. Go dive in.

Lemonymous

Posted Mon April 27, 2015

Local musician Ender Bowen is looking to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his third album, Lemonymous, by re-mastering and re-releasing it via this Kickstarter campaign. It’s a modest goal and a fascinating undertaking for an album that was overlooked back in its original release. Usually I tend to think I’m aware of most of the worthwhile music coming out of the Nashville area at any given time but albums like Lemonymous prove that occasionally things fall through the cracks.

Help Ender Bowen re-release this album and give it some of the recognition it deserves.

(Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/)

V to Z – Shatter (feat Jason Moore)

Posted Fri April 24, 2015

Seeing as how the project V to Z is the undertaking of Joshua Moore, it’s no surprise to hear his brother, and previous cohort in The Katies, Jason singing on a track. This track has less of the manic energy of the previous releases but it compliments Jason’s singing style well.