Summer is practically here, and it’s time for touring to kick into high gear. Whether they’re headed for the road or not, musicians across a broad spectrum in and around Nashville are offering up tons of great new releases. Find 10 new recommendations below from our music scribes (including one that actually features one of said writers) that you can add to your queue on your favorite streaming service or snag from your favorite record store. Though the Bandcamp Friday promotion (in which the platform waived its fees for a 24-hour period on the first Friday of each month) appears to be over for now, most of our selections are available to buy quickly and easily from the artists on Bandcamp, too.
Mike Floss, Contraband (Platinum South)
After a period of building connections elsewhere, Mike Floss began to refocus his attention on his hometown of Nashville last year. Like many MCs, he’s outspoken about the rights and needs of Black Nashvillians, and he’s finding ways to blend his artistic endeavors with community organization. His latest EP Contraband is a prime example. Over varied and inventive beats, Floss raps about encounters that all too often leave nonwhite people injured or dead at the hands of police, and about making lasting change in communities. “Giant,” which features samples of speech by former Community Oversight Boardmember Jamel Campbell-Gooch, is the heart of the record, in which Floss raps: “What I learned is we can turn tides together if we keep tryin’ / They gonna keep sellin’ us lies if we keep buyin’ / I do this for the kids at Pearl that’s too defiant / I never let this world reduce my giant.” STEPHEN TRAGESER
Find Contraband on your favorite streaming service via this handy link from Floss' website.
midwxst, better luck next time (Simple Stupid/Geffen)
Through confessional lyrics and multifaceted beats, midwxst is revolutionizing the world of hyperpop, a chaotically entertaining musical genre that’s exploded in popularity thanks to social media apps like TikTok. The 18-year-old musician — who grew up in Indiana and came to Nashville for a short time to study at Belmont — dropped better luck next time, a nine-song EP that explores themes of heartbreak and regret through an array of sounds ranging from pop-punk-inspired guitar riffs to glitch-hop-esque bass drops. From the catchy moving-on anthem “riddle” to the yearning lost-love track “on my mind,” midwxst approaches universal themes of heartbreak in one of the most musically versatile ways possible. KAHWIT TELA
The Contact Group, Varnished Suffrages (self-released)
If you’ve read the Scene over the past 20 years, you’ve almost certainly read work by freelance contributor Edd Hurt (including his contributions to this very article). Now you get to hear some of his musical perspective in action. As we reached the depths of lockdown, he began working with an outstanding coalition of Music City musicians — members of Hungry Mother, Altered Statesman, Vladopus9, The Gospel of Power and more — at Sundog Recording Studio on the East Side. They rendered some rich and lively versions of his favorite songs that happen to be from the ’70s, including Alex Chilton’s “Bangkok” and “Take Me Home and Make Me Like It” and Spooner Oldham’s “1980,” plus an original instrumental tribute titled “Helen Reddy.” As he writes in his liner notes: “I played keys and produced the sessions along with the steady hand of Mike Esser, tried to channel the spirit of Jim Dickinson, and stayed the fuck out the way of the train coming at me.” STEPHEN TRAGESER
Brennen Leigh, Obsessed With the West (Signature Sounds)
Brennen Leigh sounds a little giddy throughout Obsessed With the West, and that’s appropriate for a modern Western swing album. The essence of Western swing, which flourished around the time of World War II, is some combination of piety and subversion, with the music’s jazzy elements providing a relaxed but definitely swinging foundation. Obsessed pairs Leigh with legendary Western swingers Asleep at the Wheel, themselves masters of sly subversion. Leigh wrote the songs with help from the likes of Katie Shore (who also sings on Obsessed) and Noel McKay (Leigh’s sometime partner in the duo McKay & Leigh). She captures the down-home irreverence of the genre on “Comin’ in Hot,” during which she drives like crazy to make a gig in Nashville and then declares that she’ll probably be late for her date at the pearly gates. EDD HURT
Gee Slab, The First Afterthought (Believe In New Opportunity)
On his latest EP, Gee Slab continues his trend of bringing bars that set the scene for cinematic storytelling, enhanced by subtle and sophisticated production. The prerelease single “Load” is a great introduction to the thematic thread — that is, staying about your business and keeping the right people around you pay big dividends. The philosophy comes to life in the vignettes Slab relates, and it’s an extension of the work he’s doing in real life with the Six One Tribe crew. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Find The First Afterthought on your favorite streaming service, and keep up with Gee Slab via geeslab.com.
Zeek, Day Three (self-released)
The five tracks on Zeek’s Day Three run 92 minutes, with drummer John Westberry’s out-of-meter pulse connecting the music to the 1960s free jazz it’s emulating. What happens on Day Three is nothing definite — Joseph Campbell’s guitars and electronics occasionally turn melodic, but the album’s mood is fragmented and, at times, ominous. As the album’s engineer Zachary Gresham writes in his liner notes, “The 3+ hours of audio captured at Gilly Hut Studio on June 12, 2021 contain no emotional content.” Indeed, Day Three is a soundscape that eschews overt emotionalism in favor of indefinite states of mind. Listened to in the background, like ambient music, Day Three simulates the random clutter of an average day, and that’s reassuring. EDD HURT
Sophie and the Broken Things, Delusions of Grandeur (Petaluma)
Though Delusions of Grandeur is the debut release with her band The Broken Things, singer-songwriter Sophie Gault has been honing her craft for a long time, and it shows. Gault & Co. dance nimbly around the perceived divides between various flavors of country and rock as she illuminates conflicts in relationships with others and with herself. Songs like “Trouble” — in which a couple has difficulty staying apart even though they know they’re not particularly good for each other — impressed veteran polymath Ray Kennedy, who’s known for his work with folks like Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle. Kennedy consulted on the recording and mixed the album. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Cookie Jar, Cookie Jar (Official Memorabilia)
Cookie Jar is the most recent project to come from songsmith, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Novak and the Cheap Time/Savoy Motel camp. Savoy Motel’s most recent release, a 2020 album called Love Your Face, felt like a slight turn away from the funk-splashed sound of 2016’s Savoy Motel. The pendulum swings back the other way a bit on Cookie Jar, with hints of early disco, lots of spacey synths oscillating away, and even a bit of vocoder action. The complete 10-track record is only available on a 12-inch vinyl LP, sleeved in a DJ jacket. You can, however, dig into three tracks from the album released as singles on Cookie Jar’s Bandcamp page: Get a taste of the wavy grooves of “Colorful Graffiti,” the somewhat Prince-ian “Teardrops From a Falling Star” and “Six of One Half Dozen of Another.” P.J. KINZER
Listen to the three pre-release singles above and buy a vinyl copy of Cookie Jar via Bandcamp.
Sound&Shape, Disaster Medicine (self-released)
When I had a long drive in front of me that I was not looking forward to, putting on the latest album from longtime local rockers Sound&Shape was one of the best decisions I could have made. The way they blend prog rock’s ideas about making music on a grand scale with the whistle-worthy hook sensibility of six decades of pop songwriters and the sheer force of punk and metal gave me the serotonin hit that I needed. And there’s plenty of substance to the songs, too — closer “How the Light Gets In,” which has one of singer-guitarist Ryan Caudle’s best vocal performances to date, is a poignant look at carrying on when it feels like everything has fallen apart. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Find Disaster Medicine on your favorite streaming service via Sound&Shape's website.
