Stream the Best Local EPs of 2018

When the time comes for year-end lists, full-length albums and individual songs tend to get the lion’s share of critical attention, while shorter collections are often overlooked. Many Nashville musicians released outstanding EPs in 2018, and we’ve rounded up 10 of our top picks.

Eve Maret, No More Running 

Eve Maret is a top-shelf composer, performer and synth programmer, and her debut EP earned high marks from an array of respondents to our annual Rock ’n’ Roll Poll (check out the Dec. 13 issue of the Scene for that). Stylistically, she’s expanding on concepts from ’70s art music, synth pop and krautrock, but her approach is fresh, distinctive and forward-looking.  

Peachy, Squirt 

Similarly, the debut release from the trio of Leah Miller, Rachel Warrick and Benji Coale showcases some tried-and-true sounds — a bit of ’70s British punk, a bit of ’80s post-punk — performed with the tightness of a band that’s been together for years. They dig deeply into a thematic concern that’s unfortunately timeless: declaring independence from patriarchal attitudes and social mores.

Alanna Royale, So Bad You Can Taste It 

Frontwoman Alanna Quinn-Broadus & Co. are masters at updating classic soul. Their first collection since their 2014 LP Achilles takes full advantage of all the genre’s strengths. It’s rich and colorful dance music, and it’s also packed with powerful social commentary.

Kent Osborne, Internet Era

The self-produced five-song cassette from rapper Kent Osborne runs the gamut from ominous scorchers that owe a good bit to hardcore punk to trap-esque downtempo tracks. Throughout, Osborne looks at social issues from the inside, and converts angst into serious questions about the validity of feelings, the queasy evolution of consumer culture and more.

Pale Houses, Songs of the Isolation 

Pale Houses frontman Aaron Robinson has a long history of writing narrative songs that are earnest but also excellent — not something you always get from artists associated with emo (vis-à-vis his former band Imaginary Baseball League). Here, Robinson and his bandmates excellently render eight such tunes as engaging dream-pop. (Bonus! The vinyl release includes some earlier songs and a remix.)

Daniella Mason, Emotional State 

Emotional State is the first in a suite of four planned EPs by Daniella Mason, one of the foremost forces in Nashville’s rising pop scene. Each of the EP’s songs is a gem of emotional nuance and forward-thinking production that surprises you in the best ways.

Gee Slab, You Deserve Better

Gee Slab’s full-length In Real Life is one of the year’s best LPs, and this short collection extends some of the stories the MC told in that album. Here, he lays out his ideas about what the good life looks like while focusing on the daily grind he’s got to maintain to get there, over a rad assortment of danceable beats. 

Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears, Weird Ears Part 1 

An inspired and innovative guitarist, Sean Thompson is one of the city’s MVP side players. Weird Ears Part 1 is his debut release as a frontman. Backed up by the band Ornament (with whom he frequently plays), he pours out some of the folk-y, rock-ish and, well … weird tunes he’s written about friendship, learning to feel comfortable in your own skin and more.

Malcolm Voltaire, Iglesia 

Sonically, the latest from Atlanta-raised, Nashville-residing rapper Malcolm Voltaire is one of the most chill, groovy records to come out of the city in 2018. But the stories he’s telling are full of internal and external conflict, richly rendered and delivered with a unique flow that’s both athletic and refined.

Donors, Donors 

The self-titled debut from this quartet takes cues from art punk and post-punk, traditions in which the playing tends to be snare-tight. While they aren’t sloppy, the players loosen the screws quite a bit in a way that makes the whole thing feel uneasy. It’s a perfect fit for songs that seem to address living in a rapidly changing city where it can be hard to feel settled at all.