Winter chill or no, a broad spectrum of Nashville musicians continues to release outstanding music in abundance. Our writers have nine new releases to recommend, so add ’em to your streaming queue or get a physical copy from your favorite record store. Or put them on your wish list for #BandcampFriday, the promotion in which the platform waives its cut of artist fees on the first Friday of the month.
After taking a break in January, the platform brought back Bandcamp Friday beginning Feb. 4, and it’s set to continue through May. The next installment is March 4.
Brian Brown, one & done (self-released)
Brian Brown is a prolific writer, so much so that project-worthy tracks often end up in the vault. A new collection of loosies from the celebrated local rapper shows just how much wealth that vault holds, with a sampling of 12 tracks that measure up to any of his releases. Opening track “jump shitty freestyle (rough)” is anything but shitty, showcasing Brown’s versatile flow, which transitions seamlessly from staccato bursts of lyricism to rapid-fire delivery. Other standouts include “bird talk (rough)” and “lovely day (rip bill withers) (rough),” which features fellow Nashvillian RyAnne on vocals and pays tribute to the titular late soul icon. BRITTNEY McKENNA
I Could Live in Hope, I Won’t Go (Nineteen98)
In fall 2020, a point in the pandemic when morale felt about as low as could be, Travis Trevisan of preeminent Nashville shoegazers Tape Deck Mountain debuted a new side project. In the process, he invented a subgenre: political slowcore. I Could Live in Hope is named for Low’s first album, and the project’s debut EP PSA, Not OK gives the early work of Duluth’s finest a run for its money as far as bleak vibes are concerned. Things still aren’t OK exactly, but the follow-up I Won’t Go — issued in January by San Diego native Trevisan’s label Nineteen98, a reference to the last year his hometown Padres won the National League pennant — takes a more optimistic tack. If the names The Album Leaf, Jesu or Pell Mell ring a bell, then run, don’t walk, to hear this. Here’s hoping Minneapolis-residing drummer Ronnie Lee makes it down for a gig sometime, because there’s a compelling set’s worth of songs between the two EPs. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
R.A.P. Ferreira, The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures (Ruby Yacht)
R.A.P. Ferreira has had a nomadic kind of life, making his home at different times in Biddeford, Maine; Kenosha, Wis.; Los Angeles; and perhaps most notably, Chicago. There, under the stage name milo, he pioneered a scene of especially brainy MCs who inject jazz into the crevices between rhythmically dissonant, vibey beats (see also: Noname and Saba). A couple years back, he joined the cadre of independent musicians who make Music City hum with creative activity. His latest release, 2021’s The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures, is a slick, meditative listen. It serves as a credo for his “elastic” vision and commitment to making art; across the record, he raps, “I am R.A.P. Ferreira and I will rap forever.” Welcome to Nashville, R.A.P. Ferreira. We hope you’ll stick around. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT
Sundaes, Boys Who Made Me Cry (Sundaes Safari)
The music on Sundaes’ EP Boys Who Made Me Cry applies the streamlined approach of those ultimate romantics, Roxy Music, to a set of tunes about the vicissitudes of love. The songs bandleader Max Nunes has written for the band’s latest effort find him baring his heart, but the glossy surfaces of the arrangements allow him to keep a certain distance from their darker implications. What’s most impressive about Boys is the way Sundaes avoids genre tags — the band adopts a universal pop style that works beautifully on the record’s finest tune, “Songs Enough to Sing.” Like Roxy Music on their great 1979 avant-disco album Manifesto, Nunes contemplates the meaning of desire while he dances away the heartaches. EDD HURT
Dominic Billett, Lower (self-released)
Dominic Billett is highly regarded in his role as a sideman, often playing drums for thoughtful folk-leaning singer-songwriters like Erin Rae and Andrew Combs. Throughout the pandemic, Billett has released several records of his own, on which he’s written, sung and played all the instruments on all the songs himself. Lower is his second full-length, and he expands his melancholy post-Beatles pop sensibility with some soul grooves and some experimental studio methods that remind me of Brian Eno’s Another Green World. It’s a fitting sound for trying to process the complexities of a world that’s in flux, without a “normal” to bounce off of. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Erin Enderlin, Barroom Mirrors (Black Crow Productions)
Breaking up sucks, but it doesn’t have to when you have Erin Enderlin as your wingperson. Enderlin’s made something of a specialty of writing about down-and-out narrators who are unlucky in love. That doesn’t mean any of Enderlin’s albums, particularly her Barroom Mirrors EP, is what you want to put on when you’re ready to throw back and party. In fact, the EP lives in that initial stage where all you can do is, well, hit the bar and stare at yourself in the mirror. “If There Weren’t So Many Damn Jukeboxes” puts a brave face on things, but that’s countered by “If I’m Not in Hell,” which comes with as forlorn a steel guitar as you’ll hear in country music anywhere. RACHEL CHOLST
Find Barroom Mirrors on your favorite streaming service via this handy link.
Zach Wilson, Priors (Devil’s Tower Records)
Devil’s Tower Records is a relatively new kid on the Nashville indie-rock block. But between curating the epic, hyper-local double-LP John Prine tribute Kiss My Ass Goodbye and discovering Australian noise-pop diamonds-in-the-rough The Attractor Beams, label head Jack Evan Johnson’s ears have proven trustworthy, whether the music is from across the globe or around the way. Buckeye State-raised, Music City-residing tunesmith Zach Wilson falls into the latter category. Aggressively strummed, passionately sung and clocking in at a concise 28 minutes, Priors has a vibe that falls somewhere between above-average busker and grunge-era frontman who, despite his band going AWOL on recording day, says, “Fuck it, let’s keep going.” Refreshingly unprocessed and sneakily anthemic, it’s a testament to the three-chords-and-the-truth, first-take-best-take mindset. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
Kyle Hamlett Uno, On the Blink (self-released)
Kyle Hamlett’s meditative voice is one that followers of local music know well, from his shapeshifting folk-electro band Lylas and work with other musicians. On the Blink was produced by and features some instrumental contributions from famed Yo La Tengo producer Roger Moutenot, who helps Hamlett lean into electric psychedelia and try some new vocal techniques. The three tracks provide a hypnotic setting for songs that touch on the challenges of relationships in which the boundaries aren’t always clear, as you hear in the refrain of “Another Year of 13 Moons”: “I came back around / To dig up some ground / And be done with you / Or dance with you.” STEPHEN TRAGESER
Conrad y Skordalia, The Moment Before Waking (self-released)
Conrad y Skordalia’s The Moment Before Waking fits into a category you might call Downbeat Americana, and that doesn’t mean the record isn’t kind of fun. Songwriter, guitarist and bassist David Conrad sings in a baritone voice that hints at Warren Zevon’s fatalism, while violinist Rebecca Weiner Tompkins helps give the album that special touch of Mekons-style austerity. There’s a wintry tone to The Moment Before Waking that might be off-putting in less skilled hands. Soon enough, though — around the time you hear the beautiful title track, which is an instrumental — the fatalism starts to sound less cutting. Conrad and Tompkins seem to understand what it takes to keep hope alive on cold mornings when the sun won’t rise, and that’s the kind of wisdom we all need right now. EDD HURT
