I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person who feels caught in COVID-19 time — that dilatory, deceptive distension of the very time-space continuum we take for granted. I remember catching one of the first shows at the all-ages, do-it-together performance space Drkmttr after the venue made the move from Indiana Avenue to its present location on Dickerson Pike. At that January 2019 show, Drkmttr showcased some of Nashville’s burgeoning dream-pop scene via a superb performance from Dream Chambers. I also heard fine, funny disco from Music City post-rapper Internet Boyfriend and sparkly bubble pop from Brooklyn’s Ghost Piss.
That show was a great introduction to one of the city’s premier venues. Now, down the line in a new continuum, Drkmttr has put together a virtual variety show, Spirit of Drkmttr, that lays out a specific Nashville aesthetic for a dislocated era. Thursday night, the venue partnered with Music City production team Queen Ave Collective to stream the second installment of the series. Funds raised during the performance were set to go to the Nashville Free Store, a project that’s housed on the premises of Drkmttr and that gets food and household goods to folks who need them, along with Bliss and the Trash Plants, a local organization committed to recycling and repurposing plants. Drkmttr itself is seeking financial support via Patreon.
The two-hour variety show ranged across dream pop, post-punk and hardcore. There was even a nod to the eternal contradictions of time and space — and food — from writers and directors Josh Whiteman and Andrew Sobole, who screened their film "The Hot Dog Continuum." That was silly fun, but the music I heard defined a side of Nashville that continues to defy any music-industry-led expectations.
As far as I’m concerned, both Eve Maret and the aforementioned Dream Chambers are pop stars. Maret, whose excellent LP Stars Aligned was delayed from a September release to Nov. 13, tends to the disco-funk side of things, and her cool, calm presence helped define her equally cooled-out version of dance music. Meanwhile, Dream Chambers — the moniker of Nashville singer and synth composer Jess Chambers — has perfected a style that reflects underwater moonlight, to reference the 1980 Soft Boys song. Thursday, Chambers layered her breathy vocals, creating patterns that evoked performers from Dusty Springfield to Brian Eno. Like, say, Annabel (Lee)’s unjustly neglected 2017 album The Cleansing, Chambers’ music works as quiescent pop.
Meanwhile, xBETAx did a set during which each short, nasty tune was more snide than the one before. The quartet even included — if my count is correct — three bass solos in one song. In my favorite moment of the evening, the band did a cover of Misfits' "Last Caress," a Buzzcocks-meets-Undertones number that begins, “I killed your baby today / Doesn’t matter much to me.” Thirdface, which features Drkmttr founder Kathryn Edwards on frenetic vocals, did a pounding set of hardcore songs.
There were also turns by drag artist Carnelian Clinique, a set of magic by David Torres-Fuentes, and more post-punk from Engine IX. The green-screen videos, by Buscat, were well-done. The night closed out with a set by pop-punksters Peachy, who write and play in a Clash-ified British Invasion mode that suggests they could go pop all the way.
Still, it’s late 2020, and the continuum has become a wind tunnel. Peachy impressed me with how pissed-off they are, and how funny they remain in spite of it. Guitarist Rachel Warrick, bassist Leah Miller and drummer Benji Coale pulled off a song titled “Rich Boy,” and they tore into the hapless subject of their song with real gusto. It made me feel like things just might turn out all right, after all.
