While the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues apace, most of the music industry remains in limbo. But that isn’t stopping Nashville musicians from offering a dazzling variety of great work. Below, our music writers have 11 new recommendations for you. Add these releases to your streaming queue and get a physical copy from your favorite record store. Or put them on your wishlist for the next #BandcampFriday — the promotion where the platform waives its cut of artist fees — coming up on March 5.
Also check out our previous lists for even more recommendations: March, April, May, June (1), June (2), July (1), July (2), September (1), September (2), Best of Nashville Writers' Choices (October), November, December, Top Local Albums Critics' Poll (December) and January.
Reaux Marquez, No Roads (The Garden)
After living through a year that brought a devastating tornado and a deadly global pandemic, rapper Reaux Marquez felt inspired to craft an album that reflected the loss and tumult he and his North Nashville community experienced. No Roads is an immersive, narrative album, opening with the spoken line, “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” Marquez produced the album himself, and he adds flourishes of jazz, spoken word, R&B and field recordings into his fiery, moody soundscapes, which add color and texture to his versatile flow. To boot, Marquez also assembled a killer lineup of featured artists, including local mainstays like A.B. Eastwood, Jamiah, Namir Blade and Lauren McClinton. BRITTNEY McKENNA
Vera Bloom, Vera Bloom (self-released)
Folks who aren’t from the 206 won’t understand, but the city of Seattle leaves a mark on its music. Maybe the salty air causes a chemical reaction in the amp tubes, maybe the damp morning fog slowly seeps into the wood of a guitar. Whatever it is that’s happening at a microscopic level, the Seattle sound is undeniable and forever, and you can hear it in Vera Bloom’s new self-titled EP. Now in Nashville, the former Northwesterner also known as AnneMarie Kelbon churns out songs that recall the fuzzy, riff-laden days of Seattle’s most famous musical genre (I hear echos of Hammerbox and I love it), blending it with the pop prowess of melody-loving acts like The Vaselines. Granted, The Vaselines are from Scotland, not Seattle, but they did release albums via Sub Pop and K Records. And just like that, I’m homesick for Seattle again. Anyone wanna go grab a bowl of pho or a hot dog with cream cheese? MEGAN SELING
Spodee Boy, Spodee Boy Rides Again (Goodbye Boozy)
Nashville is no post-punk hotbed, but you have to give it up for Connor Cummins’ efforts to make it one with the plethora of projects he’s got going at any given time. The 27-year-old’s latest, Safety Net, is his best to date — a top-shelf noise-pop power trio in the image of the mighty Mission of Burma. But Cummins’ punk-rock performance-art project Spodee Boy is his longest-running — his baby in the same way Guided by Voices belongs to Bob Pollard — and it returns from a two-year hiatus with a new EP, Spodee Boy Rides Again. The four-track release offers a squawking, ’verbed-out cow-punk sound, cutesy faux-Western artwork and lyrics lampooning the Mad Libs-like laziness of country lyric writing, as in the title track: “As he comes to the OK Corral / With his gun in his hand and his dick in the other / Who knew who would fire the first shot?” The EP drips with sarcasm and more than a little frustration, as if to say, “Anyone can write using this imagery — who cares?” As piss-takes go, maybe it isn’t as committed as Ween’s 12 Golden Country Greats, but it’s good, satirical rock ’n’ roll all the same. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
Chico Rashad, Country Music Never Cries (Be Dumb)
Across multiple media, Chico Rashad communicates powerful messages about mental health, social and political problems and identity. In November, he shared that work in musical form as Country Music Never Cries, a collection of inventive, melancholy tracks that blend the often-off-kilter production of Soundcloud rap and the richness of forward-looking R&B. As noted by his friend Becca Mancari in our Year in Music interview, Rashad promoted the release with videos of himself decked out in Western gear down on Lower Broadway, the only Black person in a sea of white folks. It’s another way to ask a vital question: Why doesn’t Music City do a better job of supporting Black and brown residents in general and artists in particular? STEPHEN TRAGESER
Visit Chico Rashad's Linktree to stream Country Music Never Cries on your favorite service.
Brian Siskind, Pasture and Lush (Beat Hollow)
A producer, drummer and filmmaker who grew up in Winston-Salem, N.C., Brian Siskind split time between Nashville and New York before settling in Music City a decade ago. Recorded under his musical sobriquet Fognode and released in 2001, Siskind’s full-length Beat Hollow caught Nashville at a musical and cultural flashpoint: big-city alienation meets pastoral idealism, with mutated folk-country guitar and pedal steel riding above trip-hoppy beats. Siskind delves into the 1980s on a pair of new EPs, Pasture and Lush, which he recorded without using computers. It’s a retro strategy that works, since Siskind’s compositions often suggest ’80s soundtrack music. The Pasture track “Vacuum Beat” puts me in mind of a funkless Jon Hassell, while Lush features “Aurora Hotel,” which sounds like the opening credits for a John Carpenter movie that never got made. EDD HURT
Stream Pasture and Lush on your favorite streaming service, or visit Siskind's website or your favorite record store to buy a copy.
Mike Floss, God’s Leather (Spirit & Sol)
On Jan. 29, Mike Floss released his EP God’s Leather, his first official multi-song release since his 2017 album Tennessee Daydreams. The five-track project shows the standout MC leveling up across the board. Floss especially flexes his lyrical muscles here, from the shape-shifting, conversational cadence of opening track “Pardon Me” to the rapid-fire flow on closer “Free Will.” Sonically, the production is brooding and stylized, skewing darker than much of Tennessee Daydreams and closer to his 2020 single “DTP.” BRITTNEY McKENNA
Visit this handy link to stream God's Leather on your favorite service.
Nalani Rothrock, The Rock House Sessions (Jolani Music)
Vocalist Nalani Rothrock delivers a strong mix of energetic and poignant material on her new three-song EP The Rock House Sessions. The project nicely combines the earnestness of traditional soul with the storytelling flamboyance of classic country. The menu of tunes opens with the powerfully grooving “How Long,” which immediately establishes Rothrock’s dynamic vocal range and style, followed by “Try,” a testament to the necessity for endurance and perseverance in life, and the gritty finale “Every Time I Close My Eyes.” She shares the writing spotlight on these originals with partner guitarist Josh Lamkin, while superb keyboardist Kevin McKendree performs and serves as producer-engineer for these sessions cut at his Rock House studios in Franklin. Unfortunately, the pandemic temporarily scuttled the duo’s plans for a complete LP, but these numbers proved too good to let languish in a vault. RON WYNN
Rainsticks, October Onwards (Oreo Bottle)
Appropriately enough, Rainsticks released their sunny jangle-pop album October Onwards the day before Halloween on digital platforms, and just last month, the release hit the physical realm on CD and cassette. Courtesy of Asher Horton, a local MVP you’ll know from Sun Seeker, Fox Fun and other bands, October is a barrage of hooks and effects pedals reminiscent of the formula in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles nearly 40 years ago. You’ll find immensely sweet yet melancholy melodies, ringing guitars, layers of harmonies and an occasional nod to The Byrds. And you don’t have to take my word for it: Wilco picked the album as one of their favorites of 2020. P.J. KINZER
Stuffed Spider, Secret Speech (Wrong Whole Archival Bureau)
In a past life, Matt Parrish played in Ho-Ag, a Boston art-punk combo that orbited the same musical and geographical realm as Lightning Bolt. Today, he lives a quieter existence in Nashville as a dad and solo musician, but his synth-and-tape-collage project Stuffed Spider is anything but basic dad rock. Where Ho-Ag owed debts to Devo, Secret Speech recalls Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh’s soundtrack work in places — think Rugrats’ Stu Pickles sleepwalking down to his basement lair to work on his latest inventions. The album’s dozen soundscapes consist of loops, keys, guitars, melodica, spoken word, seemingly busted machinery and tons more indecipherable source material that Parrish has collected since 1997. Back then, they probably would’ve called this IDM, an obsolete acronym for “intelligent dance music”; by any name, Secret Speech is an excellent headphone listen and Stuffed Spider a welcome addition to the local experimental-electronic landscape. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
Hayley Williams, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos (Atlantic)
From the second you drop the needle on Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams’ outstanding 2020 solo debut Petals for Armor, the record grips you with rich, dark, danceable sounds. Her follow-up FLOWERS for VASES / descansos takes a softer approach, with lots of clean guitar and piano all performed by Williams at home during pandemic-induced lockdown. But once it starts to sink in, it’s as riveting and incisive as Petals, with Williams delving deeper into personal traumas that have shaped her life. Very broadly speaking, both solo records and Paramore’s 2017 LP After Laughter are about regaining control and agency. This one highlights the strength required to persevere in that endeavor when you’re alone with yourself in the unsettling quiet. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Visit this handy link to stream FLOWERS for VASES / descansos on your favorite service.
