Little Bandit, Skyway Man and More Give YK Records a Night to Remember

For roughly eight years now, boutique label YK Records has a served the Nashville community as a benefactor, tastemaker and something of an incubator for some of the best bands we’ve got. Even though sole proprietor Michael Eades has relocated to NYC, he hasn't lost his focus on Nashville talent. On Friday night, the release of twangy purists Little Bandit’s Breakfast Alone seemed like a good enough impetus to trot out the cavalcade of local talent that runs amok on YK’s roster, and that's just what Eades & Co. did at sister venues Mercy Lounge and The High Watt.

A little after 8 p.m., Nightblonde kicked things off in The High Watt with a half-hour of their signature sound, which we’ve nicknamed “nightmare pop” — material that lands somewhere between dream pop’s majestic melancholy and post-punk’s aggressive moodiness. They set the tone for the evening in a few ways. Like the other artists on the label and on the bill, Nightblonde may or may not ever achieve widespread recognition or commercial success, but it’s not for lack of inspiration or musical ability. They also pulled out all the stops for this showcase, bringing along a trio of violinists led by Dillon Smith, who arranged the string parts. Besides playing longtime set highlights like “I Belong in Your Arms,” they also debuted “While It’s Winter,” a song that frontman Ryan Breegle said is inspired by the triumph of love between fellow humans over moral chaos in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Down the ramp at Mercy, we warmed up our head-bangin’ muscles in preparation for Tower Defense, one of the bands we’re most likely to describe using too many hyphenated terms. As always, the dual-bass-wielding post-punk-slash-power-pop quartet (Mike and Sarah Shepherd on interlocking basses, Currey May on guitar, and human cannonball Jereme Frey on drums) didn’t disappoint thanks to their politically charged songs about the ways people learn to live together — songs that are as insightful as they are kinetic. It takes some work to get everything out of the tunes that the band puts in — more than once, we stopped ourselves from pogoing so we could pay better attention to what Mike was singing — but it’s a challenge we’re always happy to take on.

Back at The High Watt, we had our first live encounter with songs from One Million One Million One Million, the debut solo album from Jay Leo Phillips, Frey and Mike Shepherd’s Apollo Up! bandmate. Phillips brought a group of local MVPs dubbed The 20th Century (Larissa Maestro and Dan Sommers from Poly and My So-Called Band, Beth Cameron from Forget Cassettes and Laura Taylor from Take the Power Back). They gave us a little bit of a Devo vibe with their matching black hospital scrubs, and they played the songs with all kinds of nuances and flourishes that you don’t learn if you’re just planning to play one show. At least we hope they’re going to play a bunch more, because we and several friends with disparate musical tastes found the set to be an absolute jaw-dropper: anthemic heartland rock songs, rendered in a driving, bottom-heavy, danceable style that’s got little bits of New Wave, post-punk and other things we love.

Over in Mercy, garage-pop duo Mystery Twins were bringing a whole lot of twang, stomp and snarl to a minimally sentimental middle ground between the Everly Brothers and Wreckless Eric. There’s nothing new about the group, and that’s by design. But no matter how many times we take in their ferocious guitar and thundering drums (and in the case of their too-seldom-heard single "TV Talk," growling fuzz bass), it never gets old.

Amid glowing crystals, Skyway Man’s James Wallace and pals turned The High Watt into a spaceship of the imagination with cuts from their forthcoming debut album Seen Comin’ From a Mighty Eye. Thankfully, you’ve got two more chances coming up soon (an in-store at Third Man on Feb. 17 and a full release show at Little Harpeth on Feb. 24) to catch Skyway Man's intricate but unfussy, organically psychedelic, gospel-tinged folk rock. They wrapped with “Terre, 9999,” a pocket-size opera looking back on a dystopia unfolding over the next 8,000 years — it’s going to be great when we lay back with the headphones, but the melodic twists and turns surprise and delight in person, too.

With such a deluge of talent coming at us from both sides of the building, we almost forgot Little Bandit was the focus of this promenade of local star power — and would prove the most exemplary Nashville phenomenon of the bunch. Though not a native, longtime local singer-songwriter and in-demand keyboardist Alex Caress has Nashville’s purest essence running through his veins, and it showed in every dimension of the show.

With a backing band borrowed in part from overnight it girl Margo Price, alternating horn and string sections, a choir of backup singers (including Cameron and Maestro as well as singers and songsmiths Kim Logan, Carey Kotsionis and Erin Rae McKaskle), and special guests that included former Lonely H frontman Mark Fredson and the aforementioned Price herself, Caress had more talent in his arsenal than he could fit onstage at any given time. His touch brings to the traditional Nashville sound the same ornate moxie and sardonic self-awareness that Magnetic Fields brought to Tin Pan Alley. Tying together the savage wit of veterans like Shel Silverstein with the somber lament of Harry Nilsson and the showmanship of George Jones, Little Bandit’s relatively short set was a hilariously crass, heartbreaking feel-fest roller coaster of fun that didn’t waste an ounce of the spotlight.

Back in The High Watt’s close quarters, crass country duo Birdcloud followed suit with a greasy bucketful of their own trademark theatrics. The thinning crowd perhaps should have been (but was most certainly not) a crowd-surfing deterrent for mandolin-shredding co-lead singer Makenzie Green, whose angularly petite frame was at one point carried the length of the room and back while co-founder Jasmin Kaset held down the stage banging on acoustic guitar.

Closing out the night was a much-needed blast from the past courtesy of indie-pop ensemble Kindercastle. Prior to moving to Brooklyn and gaining a fair amount of buzz via his solo project Uncle Skeleton, singer/keyboardist Ross Wariner — along with multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Cody Uhler — filled out the Mercy stage many times in the latter Aughts. Back again with what seemed like an even bigger band than Little Bandit, Kindercastle’s delicate and orchestrally intricate take on disco-pop sounded as bright and eclectic as ever — a description that also pretty much sums up the whole damn night.