Summer breaks may be drawing to a close, but there’s plenty of the season left — and even more new records from Nashville musicians you’ll want to know better. The Scene’s music writers have eight new recommendations for you, so add ’em to your streaming queue or pick them up from your favorite record store. Some of our picks are also available to buy directly from the artists on Bandcamp. However, the Bandcamp Friday promotion — in which the platform waives its cut of sales for a 24-hour period — is on a summer break, and will return Sept. 6.
Album art: Ron Obasi, 'Thirty Sunz'
Ron Obasi, Thirty Sunz (self-released)
After months in digital limbo, masterful East Side rapper Ron Obasi’s Thirty Sunz is on all streaming platforms (with three bonus tracks), and it’s worth the wait. Obasi is a philosophically inclined MC who raps eloquently about big ideas, including huge social issues like institutionalized racism. On the jazz- and R&B-inflected Thirty Sunz, he follows in the footsteps of other great rappers and uses pop culture touchstones as a lens for his point of view; standout tracks include “Dragon Ballz,” “Jim Kelly” and “Zack Taylorz,” a nod to the Black Power Ranger. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Find Thirty Sunz on your favorite streaming platform and follow Obasi on Instagram for updates.
Friendship Commanders, Bill — The Steve Albini Mixes (self-released)
Friendship Commanders, who I hereby crown with the award for The Loudest Sound I Have Ever Felt, have unleashed a special version of their 2018 album Bill so that we might hear the mixes done by the recently and dearly departed Steve Albini. It’s an excellent way to revisit an excellent album. Singer-guitarist Buick Audra shreds mightily in these previously unreleased guitar-forward mixes, while drummer Jerry Roe provides blistering punctuation. Songs like “Outlive You” — Albini’s personal favorite, according to the band — and Buick Audra’s invocation on “Women to the Front” are more vibrant than ever. Catch them in person July 26 at Drkmttr. CLAIRE STEELE
Album art: Rainbow Kitten Surprise, 'Love Hate Music Box'
Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Love Hate Music Box (RKS/Elektra)
Rainbow Kitten Surprise is particular about their work. Love Hate Music Box is only the alt-pop group’s third album in a little more than 10 years together, and it comes in the wake of major changes including singer-songwriter Ela Melo’s transition. With 22 tracks, Music Box is massive, and not every song is going to be an immediate favorite — though those that don’t hit immediately are bound to grow on you. While the danceably rocking “Superstar” and melancholy “Overtime” (which features a cotton-candy guest appearance from Kacey Musgraves) are immediate standouts, “Ghoul” is a poignant and gritty slow-burn that rewards repeat listens. It’s not easy to predict where each song is going to go, and that’s half the fun. JAYME FOLTZ
Find Love Hate Music Box at your favorite record store or on your favorite streaming service, and follow Rainbow Kitten Surprise on Instagram for updates.
Sour Ops, Evangeline (Feralette)
Maybe it’s because Sour Ops leader Price Harrison is an architect and a talented photographer and videographer (as well as an incisive guitarist, songwriter and singer), but the music on Evangeline applies the constraints of extreme formalism to a set of basic rock ’n’ roll songs. The group’s fourth full-length registers as power pop — I hear echoes of the approach of Texas power poppers Cotton Mather throughout the album, right down to Harrison’s wised-up vocal style, which puts me in mind of Cotton Mather’s Robert Harrison. (They aren’t related.) Still, Sour Ops comes across like an audiophile version of a circa-1980 New Wave band that has absorbed T. Rex, The Cars and ’60s garage rock. Evangeline makes formalism sound like fun, which is a pretty rock ’n’ roll thing to do. EDD HURT
Sofia Goodman Group, Receptive (Joyful)
Drummer and bandleader Sofia Goodman has followed last year’s Secrets of the Shore with Receptive, an equally distinctive LP spotlighting her compositional abilities. Out Friday, July 26, it was produced by Grammy nominee and recently arrived Nashvillian Pascal Le Boeuf and features eight originals, each adeptly anchored by Goodman’s dynamic drumming. The unit’s cohesive sound is a highlight, though there’s plenty of space to showcase each member of the band; Jovan Quallo especially excels on flute throughout “Allow,” and trombonist Desmond Ng and bassist Leland Nelson have wonderful exchanges in “Presence.” Hear it in person when the group plays July 29 at Analog at Hutton Hotel. RON WYNN
Find Receptive at your favorite record store or pick up a physical copy via Bandcamp, and follow the group on Instagram for updates.
Jack McKeon, Talking to Strangers (LaChance)
On Talking to Strangers, Jack McKeon offers careful character sketches and lush string-band orchestration. The singer-songwriter delivers tales of small-town life and people left behind by change with the clarity of a neutral narrator. His songs brim with affection for the ways of life he captures with his guitar, there is no sense of nostalgia or boosterism — nor is there anger. Instead, McKeon is observing the world as it is, rather than how he wishes it to be. This approach invites us into a world of McKeon’s own devising as patient observers; strangers at the Waffle House counter bearing witness to others’ stories before we continue down the highway. RACHEL CHOLST
Find Talking to Strangers on your favorite streaming service and follow McKeon on Instagram for updates.
The Mavericks, Moon & Stars (Mono Mundo/Thirty Tigers)
On Moon & Stars, The Mavericks offer another collection of songs that expertly navigate the criss-crossing intersection between Latin music, country storytelling and roots-rock execution. Seasoned band leader Raul Malo — one of the smoothest storytellers in Nashville record-making — and his ensemble of ringers open the album with “The Years Will Not Be Kind,” a road-worn Western ballad worthy of a band known for rolling down endless highways to catch the next night’s gig. Created from a mixture of new songs and long-unfinished ideas finally seeing the light of day, the album continues with cuts like the title track — a collaboration with Sierra Ferrell that finds inspiration in stargazing — before taking listeners honky-tonkin’ on “Overnight Success” and into the depths of six-string heartache on “A Guitar and a Bottle of Wine.” MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
Find Moon & Stars at your favorite record store or on your favorite streaming service, and follow The Mavericks on Instagram for updates.
Parker James, Paul DeFiglia and Caleb Breaux, Afterglow (Tableaux)
In the past few years, Parker James has been an in-demand collaborator, and not just because he’s one of relatively few vibraphone players around Nashville. James has a knack for getting every ounce of expressiveness out of the unusual instrument known for its resonant shimmer, which he adapts masterfully to every context he calls it into, from ambient music to rock. His trio with percussionist Caleb Breaux and bassist Paul DeFiglia leans toward jazz, the tradition that vibes are most associated with; there’s a playful funkiness underlying much of their album, and sometimes I hear echoes of ’90s R&B in the harmonic movement. Add subtle use of experimental techniques into the mix, and you’ve got a gorgeous, glittering gem of an LP. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Find Afterglow on your favorite streaming service or via Tableaux Records' website, and follow James on Instagram for updates.
