Quality Beats Quantity on Record Store Day

Setting aside the occasional truly collectible release, the main draw for Record Store Day has long been the free shows, especially in Nashville. Going into the 12th annual RSD on Saturday, it seemed a fair bet that the action would be a little subdued around town. Vinyl-and-vintage-clothing outpost Fond Object consistently hosted some of the best local-centric lineups each RSD since it opened in 2013, but it shuttered in February. In addition, some stores known for big lineups — like Grimey’s and Third Man Records — scaled back a bit this year (with Grimey's featuring just three sets and TMR two, the latter booked inside the store rather than in Third Man's Blue Room). While Fond Object’s homey backyard was missed, the lesser quantity didn’t translate into a drop in quality. 

Over on the West Side, the Charlotte Avenue flagship store of The Great Escape — the venerable non-hipster shop that predates Record Store Day by a few decades and typically hasn’t hosted shows — offered sets with a welcome ’90s vibe. Grungy trio Local Cult’s chemistry hasn’t yet caught up to its songwriting, and most songs ended when the drummer lost the beat, then did his best to convince the crowd that it was actually a drum solo. Still, the group's raw but sincere tunes recalled Clinton-era stoner four-trackers like Noise Addict and Sebadoh. 

Ethan Kyle’s shambolic lo-fi pop, meanwhile, was tuneful at times but often inexplicably scream-y, stressing out the store’s janky P.A. and pushing the crowd backward. The group seemed tighter than they let on, and fared far better once they lowered the volume and let their songs breathe. Their material has a little of The Strokes’ Is This It and a lot of Bandcamp heroes Car Seat Headrest, and interesting drumming helped it swing rather than plod.

If you’re a recent arrival in Nashville, you may not know that Vinyl Tap was once a laundromat, and later the original home of The Family Wash, the restaurant and bar opened in 2002 by Jamie Rubin that became an East Side staple. (The Wash moved to a spot on Main Street near Five Points in 2015 and closed last year.) Vinyl Tap seems far roomier than the Wash, but even so, the bustling crowd spilled over onto the tiny patio Saturday, a testament to the strong bill put together by local label and booking enterprise Cold Lunch Recordings. 

Whoa Dakota, the project of topflight pop songsmith Jessica Ott, was even more engaging and dynamic in person than on 2018’s Patterns album. The group’s sparkly costumes and spot-on cover of the Spice Girls’ “Say You’ll Be There” surely caught some folks’ attention, and from some bands those might be the highlights of a daytime set. But Ott & Co. brought philosophically complex and highly danceable originals like “Patterns,” and they were the stars of the show.

At The Groove, Blank Range was down its ace guitarist Grant Gustafson, who co-frontman Jonathon Childers explained was on his honeymoon. “Why play then?” one wonders. But to understand what’s made BR longtime Scene staples — beyond their approachable vibe and multi-voiced, wise-beyond-their-years songcraft — is to know that no two gigs of theirs are the same. Just after the release of their stellar second album In Unison, the foursome announced an indefinite hiatus. We all know that’s usually thinly veiled slang for a breakup. These guys are lifers though, and the ad-hoc trio’s stripped-down RSD performance served as a primer for their possible next moves. 

Regular East Side showgoers seemed to recognize Childers’ “Opening Band” — played early in the set — as the local classic it is, while bassist Taylor Zachry’s cover of Randy Newman’s introspective “Baltimore” hinted at where his solo career might take him. Closing things out, the trio got an assist from the Lockeland Strings ensemble, who gave Gustafson’s Jonny Greenwood-esque leads the chamber-music treatment on a pair of In Unison standouts: a half-speed rendition of Childers’ nostalgic “Radio,” then Zachry’s elegiac “Haunt You.”

You might know Hari the Band’s Taylor Lowrance and Brennan Walsh from Shy Guy, a defunct shoegaze band that was outstanding during its tenure a few years back. Hari’s music has a lot of shoegaze in its DNA, with the hypnotic rhythm section driving thick clouds of harmony and shimmering melodies that seemed to drift out into Vinyl Tap and hang in the air. Songs from last year’s Daze in the Sun EP have threads of country music woven in, while the band’s recent singles “Blank World” and “Numb” have more of a wistful dream-pop feel — we’ll see how much that plays into the new EP (title TBA) that Hari is set to release in June.

Sad Baxter, on the other hand, shot the energy through the roof as they snarled and jangled their way through a set of grunge pop. Singer-guitarist Deezy Violet, drummer Alex Mojaverian and bassist Taylor Jones (who only plays with the group live) played some new tunes, including their recent single “The Atmos,” as well as older favorites like the perfectly sweet-and-sour “Baby.” A friend mentioned that the set was the first concert for her infant daughter, who was bouncing happily in her BabyBjorn, wearing tiny protective earmuffs. Considering Sad Baxter’s skill at pulling apart the frustrating, anxiety-inducing parts of life, it sounds like the young’un is off to a good start.

Saturday marked the first RSD for Grimey’s in its new home on Trinity Lane, which used to be a church. But if you were in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd that filled the aisles during deluxe soul outfit Alanna Royale’s set, you might have wondered a little about that “used to” part. As the band (complete with horns and harmony singers) worked the groove, singer Alanna Quinn-Broadus testified passionately, both during the songs and between them, about the vital need for human beings to look out for one another. The band seemed thrilled to celebrate a key milestone: Their new 7-inch via California indie Transistor Records, “Go” backed with “I Know” (two standout tracks from last year’s So Bad You Can Taste It), is their first release to have national distribution. Hopefully, that will be a springboard to even bigger tours and fan base.

Back at The Groove, CAMM (née Cameron Bryant), a Memphis-born pastor’s son with a degree from Belmont, got a thinned-out-but-turnt-up crowd going hard. In his corner, he had a trad-rap style with more ’90s soulfulness than contemporary-trap belligerence and a crackerjack band rounded out by pals Darius Mines on keys, DJ Jaylen Coleman and drummer Brandon Davis Jr. After their spot-on 30-minute set was finished, the 25-year-old MC responded warmly to the remark that his music was notably optimistic. 

“I get that a lot,” Bryant said with a laugh. “They say I don’t sound like I’m from Memphis. There’s a haze over the city, just from how it is. It’s a rough city. … I look up to guys like Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, Eightball & MJG, Yo Gotti. But I’m trying to be a voice that says, ‘Hey, you don’t just gotta figure out to be the best in Memphis. You can make it out of that situation.’ ” 

To that end, CAMM has a new EP of thoughtful bangers, titled Off-Szn, due next month, and he plans to relocate to Atlanta with his band this summer.

Peachy was mighty strong when they came out of the gate last year, but they’ve somehow become even more cohesive of a unit. Back at Vinyl Tap, guitarist-singer Rachel Warrick, bassist-singer Leah Miller and drummer Benji Coale seemed to be thinking with the same brain as they ripped through punk burners like the consent-minded “Fetish,” and even more so on new songs played at slower tempos. The band has more recording sessions on the horizon, so here's hoping for a full-length follow-up to last year's Squirt EP.

The sky, overcast much of the day, began to darken as Quiet Oaks took the stage. It was only 6 p.m., and the band played their brand of drawling rock with the enthusiasm of headliners going on at midnight, but the time felt right to call it a day. In the end, having a little more time to digest the bands and browse around felt like a fair trade for the rush of trying to catch as many sets as possible.

See our slideshow for more photos.