As summer kicks into high gear, the rush of Nashville-music-related news items becomes a true flood. Here are 12 items — five notes on upcoming shows and seven recent or upcoming releases — that we didn’t want to let pass us by.
Shows
- A new series called Ambient Sundays is coming to Proper Saké Co.’s Rice Vice on the East Side. The inaugural event is Sunday, July 9, with your host Infinite Limb and improviser extraordinaire Brainweight. They expect the residency to return every other Sunday through August, with lineups to be announced.
- Widely traveled, widely loved guitarist and composer William Tyler is in town for a bit before he hits the road with his band, recently renamed The Impossible Truth. He’s announced three Tuesday night shows at Brown’s Diner, a “low-key but hopefully high-ceiling” residency. Dillon Watson is set to support July 11, Annie Williams on July 18 and Eve Maret on July 25.
- Psychedelic celebration Far Out Fest made a laudable transition to streaming during COVID lockdown. After a hiatus year, the fest returns in person for 2023: Far Out Fest ’666 hits The Groove with a free, all-ages happening featuring short films and music on Friday, July 13, followed by two nights of music (from Afrobeat champs Afrokokoroot to punks Mouth Reader and beyond) and vendor pop-ups at The East Room on July 14 and 15. See the Far Out website for the full rundown and all your ticketing info. Also, see the fest’s Instagram for details on a pass giveaway, the winner of which will be announced July 7.
- West Side arts space Random Sample hosts a massive variety of musicians on Saturday, July 15, for Ordinary Time Fest. You’ve got folks who lean into rock and/or folk, like Frank Hurricane, The Cherry Blossoms and Ziona Riley, and those who focus on electronic work, like Taphead, Mono Lisa and Drug Mall. There’s lots to dive into — admission is $10-$20 on a sliding scale at the door.
- East Nashville’s Queerfest, a monthly event supporting queer musicians in Nashville, has announced the lineup for its second anniversary celebration. Founder Sara Gougeon and her team will bring touring folks like North Carolina’s The Collection as well as locals like Justin Hiltner for a two-day, three-venue throwdown. The party starts Friday, Aug. 11, at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, slides over to The 5 Spot on Saturday afternoon and wraps up that night at The Basement East. Advance tickets — your choice of a pass to the whole thing or just the Basement East show — start at $28.75 and are available now.
Releases
Last year, stellar rapper Virghost and his longtime collaborator KingPin Da’ Composer released Summer in September IV, the latest in their long-running series. At the end of May, they released a video for the banger “Fake Proud,” with scenes filmed around town in locations including Cafe Coco, which has often hosted Virghost’s Villematic regional hip-hop showcase. Virghost always has something new in the pipeline — keep an eye on his Instagram for what’s next.
In February, Steve Poulton and his never-not-awesome crew at The Altered Statesman released a fantastic new collection of expansive R&B-rooted tunes called Hearts Around the Moon. A limited-edition lathe-cut LP of the album is now available via Bandcamp, and to mark the occasion, the group also released a video companion for the title track. Peace Police’s Francesco Saxton edited the poignant piece together from the band members’ home movies.
Some bittersweet news: Mike Mannix, host of WXNA radio program Psych Out! and head of sterling indie label Centripetal Force, is leaving Music City. The label will continue, and its next release is a joint effort with Third Man Records, a new EP from pedal-steel maestro Luke Schneider called It Is Solved by Walking. Preorders are live via Bandcamp; the digital edition is out July 21, but CDs won’t be available until August and vinyl is expected to ship in October.
Reunited punk troupe Be Your Own Pet is gearing up to release Mommy, their first LP since 2008, via Third Man on Aug. 25. Director Luigi Sibona filmed the group on some recent tour dates in the U.K., and the resulting footage yielded a music vid for “Goodtime!,” the third pre-release track from the album. On a similar wavelength to Tower Defense’s “Schools,” the song thoughtfully explores the weirdness of getting older.
Also on Aug. 25, exceptional songsmith Becca Mancari will release Left Hand, a follow-up to their phenomenal 2020 release The Greatest Part. One of the tracks from the new LP is “Don’t Even Worry,” a song about being there for those who you care for featuring Mancari’s longtime bud Brittany Howard. The pair appear in director Sophia Matinazad’s video, bopping around Scared Dog Farm during golden hour and into the night. You can preorder or pre-save the record in your choice of formats via this handy link.
Great news for fans of thoughtful and ferocious rock: Superb duo Friendship Commanders has a new album on the way. Not unlike singer-songwriter-guitarist Buick Audra’s 2022 solo record Conversations With My Other Voice, the group’s new LP Mass has an accompanying book, Mass: Essays on Memory, Language and the State of Massachusetts. It also comes with some rad music videos — check out “High Sun” above. The record is due out Sept. 29, and you can preorder it in several formats and bundle variations (with the book or without, plus lots of related merch) via Bandcamp.
When we caught up with soul singer-songwriter par excellence Alanna Royale ahead of the spring run of Musicians Corner, she tipped us off that she had a new single and a new LP on the way. The word is out about the album, Trouble Is, which lands on shelves and streaming services Oct. 6. The lead single is a bop called “Run Around,” for which Royale directed the music video herself — check out her, her bandmates and a bunch of pals having a skate night in the piece above.
