SONATORE – “I’M A GH_ST” (Official Video)

For the uninitiated, Sonatore is a self-described “digital avatar” – a bend of an art project that mixes vintage aesthetics, analog photography and original musical compositions as an online entity. They often perform in a veil, a way of obfuscating themselves from reality and, from what we’ve heard of the music thus far, contextualizing the listener into a bit of a mournful state.

I’M A GH_ST,” the latest single and video from Sonatore, is a reflective and quietly defiant track with lyrics that skirt the line between a forlorn yearning of an ex-lover and an empowered dismissal of an abusive partner. It’s a ballad built on sparse electronic beats and twinkling keys, giving plenty of space for the ethereal vocals to drive the track.

The video, courtesy of AMPM VIDEO, casts a haunting electric blue visage of Sonatore throughout an empty house. This acts as both a fitting vessel for the lyrics of the song and doubles down on the “digital avatar” state of being; are these memories of a broken relationship? Is this one scorned lover looking to the past? Or is this simply Sonatore’s only means of existence?

There’s a body of work from Sonatore over on Bandcamp that dates back as far as 2017 but the output makes a noted increase starting in the spring of 2020. With each release it’s clear that the output is finding its footing on to more solid ground (though there are some funky keyboard breaks from March 2020 I’d love to hear come back). “I’M A GH_ST” acts as both an excellent introduction to the realm of Sonatore and as a contemplative treatise on letting go of the past.

259: A Sucker for Backwards Style

If you’re new to the show, every episode we play new music from the Nashville area spanning a wide variety of genres. We do our best to steer clear of the typical sound you might think of when considering the name “Nashville” – no commercial country, no songwriters in the round. We do our best to play tracks that might surprise you and, ideally, redefine what you think of when you think of Nashville. This episode we stick firmly to that mantra and bring you fourteen tracks of delight.


We always recommend you keep up each artist for more news and announcements directly from them. With that in mind, go follow repeat repeat, Slow Pass, Les Ailes, Corduroy Clemens, Da Real A1yo, Rio Tokyo, Jess Hess, The IT City, Jessica Breanne, Full Mood, Crowkeeper, Bendrix Littleton, Hikko Mori, William Tyler and Luke Schneider.

Follow us or submit your music:
Facebook: /weownthistown
Twitter: @weownthistown
Instagram: @weownthistown

“Main Theme” by Upright T-Rex Music.

Repeat2x
“Dearly Departed”

Slow Pass
“Parking Lots”

Les Ailes
“The Intervals”

Corduroy Clemens
“Freedom”

Da Real A1yo
“Without My Stic”

Rio Tokyo
“Rio Grande Freestyle”

Jess Hess
“Baby”

The It City
“Wonderful Day.png”

Jessica Breanne
“Bluebird”

Full Mood
“Orbit”

Crowkeeper
“Scripture”

Bendrix Littleton
“Backwards”

Hikko Mori
“Left of Center”

William Tyler And Luke Schneider
“The Witness Tree”

Into the Wormhole joins IDIC Podcast Festival, July 17th

“Live long and prosper” is easily the most recognizable catch phrase from the wealth of series within the Star Trek universe. Leonard Nimoy’s character Mr. Spock uttered those words in 1967 and, whether you know it or not, they serve as a reminder that good science fiction has a social agenda, not just fantastic plot points.

Another phrase from the same Vulcan species, coined by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, is “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations” – aka IDIC. While not quite as fun to quote, it serves as a foundational mantra to a future world in which all life on Earth is in harmony and is able to accept life from other realms as well. Roddenberry himself sums it up pretty nicely.

“Until humans learn to tolerate — no, that’s not enough; to positively value each other — until we can value the diversity here on Earth, then we don’t deserve to go into outer space and encounter the infinite diversity out there.” — Gene Roddenberry

IDIC is also the name of the podcast festival put on by Women at Warp, a long running podcast series that takes a critical eye to Trek material and examines it through a feminist lens. The festival takes place virtually over the course of July 17th and 18th and has an absolutely fascinating schedule of speakers, discussions and entertainment.

On Saturday, July 17th, at 12:30pm CT our very own Into the Wormhole with Larissa & Lauren will have their own panel discussion!

Your hosts Larissa Maestro and Lauren Lowen invite board certified music therapist and Trekkie Amanda Maestro-Scherer (MA, MT-BC) to talk about instances in which characters in the franchise have therapeutic relationships or experiences with music, and how music therapy (and other expressive therapies) could and should be a part of a future utopia.
Content Warning: Discussions of mental health and trauma.

Admission to the entire event is Free. Just tune in on the Women at Warp Facebook page or over on their Youtube throughout the course of the festival. See you there.

Star Trek REMIX: The Measure of A Man and Author, Author

As we all know, Star Trek not only has a history of repeating itself, but also a history of touching on themes of human rights, equality, and the laws that uphold them. L+L look at two episodes that focus specifically on the rights of AI characters, TNG’s “Measure of a Man” and VOY’s “Author, Author”. They find some similarities and a LOT of differences. Does “Measure of a Man” hold up? (Spoiler: of course it does). Did the EMH’s holonovel trial change anything for the Mark Ones? (Spoiler: maybe not?). Is it even fair to compare any episode of TV to “Measure of a Man”?


Theme Song Remix by No Stress.

Subscribe to catch all the new episodes and follow @intothewormhole.podcast on Instagram for more!

Natalie Lima

In this episode, Kim Baldwin sits down with Natalie Lima, a Cuban-Puerto Rican writer, raised in Las Vegas, NV and Hialeah, FL. She is a first-generation college graduate of Northwestern University and a graduate of the MFA program in creative nonfiction writing at the University of Arizona. Her essays and fiction have been published or are forthcoming in Longreads, Guernica, Brevity, The Offing, Catapult, Sex and the Single Girl (Harper Perennial, 2022), Body Language (Catapult, 2022), and elsewhere. Her writing has been honored in Best Small Fictions (2020), and noted twice in Best American Essays (2019 and 2020). Natalie has received fellowships from PEN America Emerging Voices, Bread Loaf, Tin House, the VONA/Voices Workshop, the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, and a residency from Hedgebrook. She is currently working on a collection of essays and a novel.

Join us for a conversation about writing embarrassing crap about your life, the pros and cons of getting an MFA, and building a literary community online.

Find Natalie on Twitter, Instagram, and at natalielima.com. Read Natalie’s work here. Take a class with Natalie here.


To get full show notes and learn more about Ladyland, visit us at ladyland.show and follow us on Instagram at @ladyland_podcast.

Music by You Drive.
Logo by Elizabeth Williams.

258: The Music Is Great, The Talking Is Weird

Huge thanks to Lance Conzett and Negro Justice for bringing their guest hosting skills to the last two episodes while I was out on Summer Break. It’s good to be back but I’m a little rusty! Trust me, you can tell! The music in this episode is fifteen tracks culled from the massive influx of new music released during my time away from the Inbox. There’s tons more where this came from and you should expect to hear it in future episodes.


We always recommend you keep up each artist for more news and announcements directly from them. With that in mind, go follow FU Stan, Nordista Freeze, Trash Man, Gee Slab, Future Crib, The Ragcoats, Virghost, Cookie Jar, New Bang, Soft Robot, Wilby, Bendrix Littleton, Kentucky Derby Con Man, Ross McReynolds & Juan Solorzano and Rich Ruth.

Follow us or submit your music:
Facebook: /weownthistown
Twitter: @weownthistown
Instagram: @weownthistown

“Main Theme” by Upright T-Rex Music.

FU Stan
“Say It Louder”

Nordista Freeze
“First Time”

Trash Man
“When You Die”

Gee Slab
“Younng Blvck Gifted”

Future Crib
“Most Likely Never Going to Die”

The Ragcoats
“She Don’t Buy It”

Virghost
“Biggie Freestyle”

Cookie Jar
“Colorful Graffiti”

New Bang
“Mystic Grind”

Soft Robot
“Charley Horse”

Wilby
“translucent beauty”

Bendrix Littleton
“Deep Dark South”

Kentucky Derby Con Man
“Cicadas”

Ross McReynolds And Juan Solorzano
“Where Have You Been”

Rich Ruth
“It’s the Water”

Future Crib – “Most Likely Never Going to Die”

Short review extracted from our July 6th Open Tabs Rundown of recent releases.

Little fun fact for you: Future Crib released an album in 2019 entitled Friends and the title track is a highly overlooked gem. That’s a subjective take so maybe “fact” isn’t the right word to use but Future Crib is one of those bands that, unfortunately, flies under the collective radar too often.

The band just released the single “Most Likely Never Going to Die” from their forthcoming new album Full Time Smile and it clearly has the potential to be another highly repeatable ear worm that you’d be remiss for overlooking. The album is set for release on September 10th, 2021 and you should just go ahead and pre-order it now.

Kentucky Derby Con Man – Kentucky Derby Con Man

Short review extracted from our July 6th Open Tabs Rundown of recent releases.

Self-described as “experimental shoegaze,” Kentucky Derby Con Man is a somewhat new outfit around town and their debut, self-titled, EP delivers on that promise. The five song release is a big wall of sound, fuzzed out in all the right ways that you’d hope for a shoegaze record to be but it sprinkles in plenty of surprising instrumentation and flourishes that you wouldn’t generally hear from a “stock” shoegaze release. Having listened through a few times, this is best experienced with your volume knob cranked as far as it will go.

All of the music we feature on We Own This Town is meant to shine a light on the diversity of the Nashville music scene but it bears repeating here; this is big, immersive, shoegaze coming out of “Music City” and it is good. If this band doesn’t play a show with Tape Deck Mountain, something is wrong with the world.

New Bang – “Mystic Grind”

Short review extracted from our July 6th Open Tabs Rundown of recent releases.

Occasionally you run across something on Bandcamp that defies all logic. In the case of New Bang, we seem to have stumbled upon the first single from a forthcoming release entitled Ultimate Tiki Beach Breaks, which promises to be “a Surf-Influenced exploration of Hip Hop Exoticism.” How could this exist? And how could it possibly successfully mix such styles?

We don’t have the answers to these questions but can confidently say that we’re fully intrigued. This first release, “Mystic Grind,” certainly delivers on the synopsis – it’s a surf-influenced exploration of hip-hop break beats and it only gets more interesting with each remix that is provided. There’s not a whole lot more to say about this one yet but we can’t resist recommending that you follow this project immediately.

Wilby – translucent beauty

Short review extracted from our July 6th Open Tabs Rundown of recent releases.

Wilby caught our ear with a random single released in the fall of 2020 entitled “Bad” and followed up this Spring with a series of singles including “Mush,” “Joanna” and “Translucent Beauty” – all of which we unabashedly loved. There wasn’t much of a clear indication at the time if these songs were part of a larger release but it’s with great joy that we can share the release of the Translucent Beauty EP; which compiles all three of the aforementioned tracks and an EP only track for “Naive.”

These songs have a sweet melancholy that is hard to pin down – they’re self-deprecating, self-reflective but with a silver lining of optimism running throughout. They’re all carried wonderfully by Wilby’s vocal delivery and beautifully nuanced tracks that beg repeating. Safe to say, we’re big fans.

Dee $ouf – “Fried Rice” (Official Video)

Short review extracted from our July 6th Open Tabs Rundown of recent releases.

If you missed the Dee $ouf 2020 release The Jake Gittes EP or his numerous singles, you’ve got time to catch up before the release of his new tape Eagles Don’t Soar With Pigeons.

The first track from said forthcoming release, “Fried Rice,” was produced by Burm and sounds like it’s going to be the best release from $ouf yet. The beats elevate this track with throwback flourishes and dancey bass while $ouf’s lyrics ride the line between highly personal and cuttingly boastful. The title of the release is a nod to throwing down the gauntlet to $ouf’s skills and it sounds like he’s going to deliver on that promise, soaring like an eagle.

Virghost – “Biggie Freestyle”

Short review extracted from our July 6th Open Tabs Rundown of recent releases.

Following up on his Searching for Shiloh release, Virghost drops a new single that blazes through criticism. His lyrics on this one are absolute fire – particularly the line “if you got a small catalog, don’t speak to me.”

Hip-Hop has always excelled at putting off the haters and proving an artists skills by actually demonstrating them and Virghost absolutely embodies that practice.