Dee Goodz
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to make it unsafe to gather for live shows or shop as usual at local record stores, our music writers have periodically revisited local releases from the past year or so that deserve a closer look. (See lists from March, April, May and two (first, second) from June, plus a Bandcamp-specific list and a full story from July.) Find eight new recommendations below, with links to buy whenever possible.
Brennen Leigh, Prairie Love Letter (self-released)
Nashville singer and guitarist Brennen Leigh uses her vibratoless, mid-American vocal style to undercut the sentimentality that lies beneath the surface of her new full-length Prairie Love Letter. Like, say, country-bluegrass singer-songwriter Mary McCaslin, whose 1974 album Way Out West describes the post-countercultural haze of ’70s Los Angeles, Leigh knows how to turn the conventions of folkiedom to her own purposes. Leigh grew up in Minnesota and began her career in earnest in Austin, Texas, before moving to Nashville in 2017. She cut Prairie in Nashville and Chicago with alt-country singer and producer Robbie Fulks, and the record features turns from the likes of fiddle and mandolin ace Tim O’Brien and steel master Pete Finney. At its best — check out the beautiful track “There’s a Yellow Cedar Waxwing on the Juneberry Bush” — Prairie Love Letter might make you long for a Minnesota home you probably never knew. EDD HURT
Dee Goodz, Bronco (The AllGoodz Company)
The latest from ace rapper Dee Goodz is a soundtrack for sunset drives outside the city limits, beyond the reach of the pandemic, where it’s OK for the bass to be too loud and where the colors of magic hour make Before Times rap life seem even more mythical. Goodz’s trunk-rattling full-length showcases his storytelling acumen and defiant independence — a welcome reprieve from the dire stakes of my COVID-obsessed daily routine. There’s legit drama in “On Silent” and “It’s Quiet,” and the album is threaded with real stresses and successes that give it gravitas that feels of-the-moment even as it stands outside of that moment. SEAN L. MALONEY
Stream Bronco from your favorite service via this link and watch Dee Goodz's Twitter profile for updates.
FU Stan, Lockdown (self-released)
The MCs who stand out in Nashville over the long haul tend to be top-shelf lyricists, and FU Stan is no exception. His latest EP Lockdown responds directly, articulately and passionately to the nearly six months of pandemic-related chaos we’ve been experiencing, coupled with the protests that call for an end to systemic racism. Lately, it’s reasonable to be totally confused about what to feel at any given moment — anxious, angry, hopeful or even just plain numb from the strain of trying to keep up — and FU Stan covers it all. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Stream Lockdown from your favorite service via this link and watch FU Stan's Instagram profile for updates.
Makeup and Vanity Set, Roy (self-released)
Makeup and Vanity Set’s Matt Pusti is a prolific electronic composer whose cultural influences extend far beyond music. Over the past two years, he’s created a four-part EP series inspired by Blade Runner, which concluded in April with Roy. Through a vast soundscape combining natural sounds, ambiance of the movie’s dystopian setting and layers of synthesizers, the EP explores the nuances of violent, tragic replicant Roy Batty’s character development. It’s ruminative, evocative sci-fi music at its very best. OLIVIA LADD
Benchmarks, Summer, Slowly (self-released)
On their second full-length, Benchmarks offer earnest, energetic, capital-P pop punk owing proudly to Diarrhea Planet (three guitars!) and Blink-182, with a hint of Replacements and Uncle Tupelo energy. Frontman Todd Farrell Jr. and his band (who you might remember in a prior configuration as The Dirty Birds) conjure up sounds and sentiments that take you back to teenhood, and put a local spin on it: “When I get home we can go back to Sylvan Park and make out in your car / Or drive out to Dickson County and look out at the stars.” CHARLIE ZAILLIAN
Chris Walters, Whisper & Howl (self-released)
Bandleader and pianist Chris Walters joins a lengthy list of jazz artists who’ve skillfully utilized strings to fortify and punctuate their creations. His eight-track album Whisper & Howl, issued in 2019, provides ample space for his alternately elegant and energetic keyboard flurries, which are presented and interspersed into a variety of settings designed to highlight the ebb and flow of contemporary life. Sometimes the settings are lush and sentimental, as in “Still She Speaks of You.” Other times there’s a frenzied backdrop, as on “Micromechanical Moment.” Whatever the theme or mood, Walters and his ensemble convey it memorably. RON WYNN
Stream Whisper & Howl via Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon, and visit Walters' Facebook profile for updates.
Impetuous Burial, Demo 2020 (self-released)
In the recent worldwide death-metal renaissance, demo-tape trading has once again become the way a new band plants its flag. This cassette, which dropped in March, is one of the coolest metal releases Nashville has seen in a while. Impetuous Burial takes the dark, plodding, midtempo path to the dark side. The record is marked by vocals reminiscent of a clogged garbage disposal, with a few blast beats peppered in to break up the moody dirge — true back-to-basics OSDM (“old school death metal,” if you’re not in the know). P.J. KINZER
Eric Slick, Wiseacre (Slick Records)
There are lots of ways you might know Eric Slick’s work: He’s played drums for Dr. Dog and for his wife Natalie Prass, for instance. He also has an interesting solo catalog that runs the gamut from free improvisation to a song cycle about the first Jewish American matador to the forward-leaning ’70s-schooled pop of Wiseacre, his new LP. The songs aren’t necessarily psychedelic, but they come from intriguing perspectives and warp old-school pop conventions in fascinating ways. STEPHEN TRAGESER
