You’ve got an array of choices for in-person shows these days, but sometimes you just want to sit down with a good record. Our writers have nine new titles to recommend from musicians across the spectrum in Music City. Add ’em to your playlist for that road trip you’re planning or get a physical copy from your favorite record store. Or drop 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 — the next installment of which is July 2.
Also check out our previous lists for even more recommendations:
- 2020: 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)
- 2021: January, February, March, April, May
Sara Bug, Sara Bug (Egghunt)
Of all that there is to love about indie rocker Sara Bug’s self-titled debut LP — her Dolly-esque warble, her cutting lyrics haunted by heartache, the lush, layered guitars and warm percussion — what’s most impressive to me is her persistence to keep creating in the face of discomfort and self-doubt. The Mississippi-born, Louisiana-raised musician, who describes herself as the “world’s finest Southern-kitsch artist,” moved to Nashville in 2013 with textbook Music City dreams of success. Soon after her arrival, the idealism wore off and self-consciousness moved in. In an article for FrontView Magazine, she described the complexities of creating in Nashville to journalist Margaret Farrell: “It feels hard sometimes to do your craft and your thing in a real way without feeling super judged, or feeling if you’re not at a certain level your art doesn’t matter.” But after seven years of writing and recording, she has a beautiful — dare I say perfect — album on her hands. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT
D’Wynter Cold, Love You Later (Capitol Minds)
You might have heard D’Wynter Cold — whose name is among the best in local music — contributing her rich, wide-ranging vocals to local hip-hop and R&B releases. Her new five-track EP puts that emotive instrument front-and-center in a collection of R&B songs that look at the way relationships evolve, sometimes resulting in them coming to a natural end. It sounds great as is, but as a bonus, several of the tracks (particularly “All the Feels”) are prime candidates for a mind-blowing dance remix. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Sallow, Cloud of Thought (self-released)
There’s a crew of six local indie-punk-metal musicians that counts Shibby Poole as its common denominator, and they’ve had a huge year. Metal trio Yautja gained hard-earned recognition with its watershed LP The Lurch on Relapse Records, and hardcore foursome Thirdface joined the Exploding in Sound label with its raw yet intricate Do It With a Smile. Sallow’s Cloud of Thought is the moodiest, slowest-burning and — heard in the right headspace — best of the three. Last year, the Scene previewed Cloud of Thought with a premiere of the standout track “Claw,” but you can now buy the whole album via Bandcamp. The long-completed record is powerful, angry, melodic, catchy, beautiful, expertly crafted and — must I go on? OK. There’s Unwound-style gnarliness in the intuitive bass-drums-guitar interplay, Albini-esque rawness in the harsh separation between instruments in the recording and Maddy Madeira’s sweet-yet-sour vocals, likened by one Bandcamp customer to Garbage’s Shirley Manson. Some synonyms for “sallow” are “pale” or “weak.” Cloud of Thought is the polar opposite of that. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
Dave Jacques, What Was I Thinking! (Henola Sound Recordings)
Solo records by Nashville sidemen tend to be somewhat insubstantial affairs, but that’s not the case with bassist Dave Jacques’ What Was I Thinking! Jacques, whose credits include a 25-year stint with John Prine, explores the intersection of soundtrack music, blues and rock throughout the album, and the results are as interesting as anything on, say, Charlie McCoy’s 1977 album Country Cookin’ or Jerry Kennedy’s From Nashville to Soulsville from 1965. Like those storied session cats, Jacques is a versatile, imaginative musician. What Was I Thinking! finds Jacques playing all the instruments, and his take on Booker T. & the M.G.’s style, the original “West Memphis Blue,” rocks out as effectively as does his surf-music pastiche, “Sunrise Surf.” The only thing Jacques doesn’t do is sing, but his music satisfies without the distraction of lyrics. EDD HURT
Bren Joy, Twenties (Deluxe) (Warner Bros.)
I am very excited by the possibility of a gigantic show featuring a lineup dubbed Nashville’s New Kings of R&B. I’d love to see Houston Kendrick, R.LUM.R, Bryant Taylorr and Pink $weats on the same bill. Without a doubt, Bren Joy belongs there too. In the spring, Joy dropped a deluxe edition of his 2019 record Twenties featuring a heap of excellent singles that were released in the interim. “Freezing,” a bouncy jam about being prepared to handle challenges in a relationship and “Lil Rich,” a meditation on the tension between liking nice things and knowing that money can change a person, are just a couple of the thoughtful additions to the original release that make the deluxe version a must-listen. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Stream or buy Twenties (Deluxe) via this handy link.
Altered Statesman, Four Easy Pieces (Feisty)
Every time they record, the band of ringers led by Steve Poulton comes across a bit different, though what you can always expect is for the result to push against established boundaries in soul and R&B. Their latest EP Four Easy Pieces brings dubby, trip-hoppy sonic elements into the mix — comparisons to Portishead aren’t inaccurate in this case, even if we music journos tend to overuse them. As always, the sound comes in support of Poulton’s narratives, which consider how we could make our world a better one by focusing on being better to each other. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Bill DeMain, Vaudeville (Tin Panda)
Pop singer-songwriter Bill DeMain, who many will know from much-loved duo Swan Dive, has a nostalgic new EP called Vaudeville that’s a delightful diversion in these trying times. There are six originals and a Harry Nilsson cover that give “a tip of the hat to vaudeville, swing and jug & jive.” DeMain’s vocals have never sounded more relaxed and assured — he even does a bit of scatting on the opener, “Everything Old Is New Again.” He’s backed by a number of well-regarded Nashville musicians, most notably multi-instrumentalist Jim Hoke. Hoke appears on every track, playing bass and a variety of woodwinds and horns, and he contributes swinging, whimsical arrangements that perfectly complement the material’s romantic optimism. Celebrated jazz pianist Larry Goldings contributes piano on the closer “Shut-Ins”; DeMain dreamed he wrote the song with his friend Goldings, and then he did it. DARYL SANDERS
Rachel Baiman, Cycles (Signature Sounds Records)
Some of the music on singer-songwriter Rachel Baiman’s Cycles owes a debt to a generalized idea of country music, but Baiman’s voice is pure pop-folk, with the emphasis on pop. Thematically, Cycles registers as classic confessional singer-songwriterdom, right down to the way Baiman sings about the joys of “chasing down every goddamn dime” in the record’s most striking track, “Joke’s on Me.” Sometimes the folk-country-pop backing seems a bit too stylized, but Cycles, which was recorded in Australia, manages to combine what I call Indie Rock Lite with Joni Mitchell-style chord changes. Check out “The Distance,” which suggests Baiman has been listening to Pavement along with The Hissing of Summer Lawns. It’s a pained, carefully conceived and often beautiful record. EDD HURT
Roadblock, Roadblock (self-released)
As a sage observer recently pointed out, various projects that include Nathan Vasquez — who you’ll know from late, great Aughts punks Be Your Own Pet — deserve way more attention. Among those musical endeavors is Roadblock, a currently inactive outfit whose hook-laden triple-guitar attack and ferocious rhythm section make them sound a bit like Dinosaur Jr. got ahold of Guided by Voices’ four-track tape deck and decided to follow the lead of White Light/White Heat-era Velvet Underground. Roadblock compiles sweet-and-sour songs about confusion and frustration recorded between 2013 and 2019. If nothing else, get it for the gnarly, rollicking opus “Animal Alley.” STEPHEN TRAGESER
