Locals Only: 10 New Nashville Releases
GRAPHICS BY ALINA PASQUA
Here at Pleaser, we LOVE our up-and-coming, local artists. In fact, they’re some of our favorites to cover. I spend a lot of time scrolling on Instagram or dropping into shows around town just utterly amazed by what everyone is creating. It’s brilliant and wonderful and such a joy to witness and be a part of. Whether it be a singer/songwriter pouring out their heart on the rusty, wooded stage of a Nashville dive bar or a pop act with a laptop at Cobra playing synthy DIY beats— we hear you, we see you and we want to give you the attention you deserve. It can be hard to write full features on everyone’s releases (trust me, I try), but we absolutely still want to highlight our favorite local artists in any way we can.
To be able to cover a broader swath of artists and give a platform to some of our favorite folks around town, we’re starting our new column, “Locals Only,” where we highlight some of our favorite new releases from local artists around cities in the US, starting with Nashville, the place to be for good, cool music.
“RockSteady/HeavyMetal”
“Going Around”
“MMA”
1. “RockSteady/HeavyMetal” By Emma Ogier, Eden Joel
Softpop local indie Nashville legends Emma Ogier and Eden Joel released what could possibly be the catchiest song we’ve heard all summer. With themes of post-breakup friendships and angsty longing, this track is wildly “coming-of-age” in all the right ways.
2. “Going Around” By Spuddy
From backyard DJ sets to secret warehouse raves requiring sunglasses worn inside, Spuddy has been moving in all the right directions to gain a cult-like following around Nash. With his latest release “Going Around,” Spuddy brings a bright, vibrant, almost CAKE-like track to the scene, keeping rock-pop-synth adjacent relevant in Nashville DIY spaces.
3. “MMA” By Hannah Cole
Channeling her inner rockstar, Hannah Cole is blowing minds with this crazy cool girl-rock track. The weight of 90’s grunge guitar intertwines with softer, lightweight vocals, making for an almost addictive soundscape. Cole cradles lyrics like “Don’t ya know the hits were real in MMA?” in the track, nursing metaphorical themes of the entertainment industry and everything that comes with it.
“This is How a Woman Leaves”
“Kind”
“A Good Thing”
4. “This is How a Woman Leaves” by Madi Diaz
Madi Diaz is as intimate as a stranger’s bedroom closet, and she fearlessly opens the door to the public eye in a majority of her discography. “This is How a Woman Leaves” is no different, as she endlessly pours vulnerable parts of herself over a soft-indie soundscape.
5. “Kind” By Joy Oladokun
As one of the most soul-filled and impactful voices in Nashville, Joy Oladokun continues her path of powerful passion through her release “Kind,” which is the launch to her Hope is a Heavy Thing record that’s set to release later this year. And she’s right– hope is a heavy thing. But it’s also the backbone of every good thing that’s ever happened– and Oladokun gives us a taste of that hope with releases like the upbeat, fierce and vulnerable “Kind.”
6. “A Good Thing” By Ella Moslee
Ella Moslee is making waves in Nashville right now, popping up in DIY spaces like backyard house shows and local venues like The East Room on Gallatin. She’s soft and punctual with her word choice, offering a sweet outlook on her early 20s experience. She’s relatively new to the scene, but we’re certain that with releases like “A Good Thing,” she’ll be a name to look out for.
“Yeah, Right”
“Liar Liar”
7. “Yeah, Right” By Willa Mae
Willa Mae has been a Pleaser favorite since day 1, and with every release, she’s only getting stronger. “Yeah, Right” gives delicate insight on what it’s like to grow up in southern states– wrangling with the political turmoil and lack of education that seems to run rampant within rural counties in the South while still being deeply in love with all the good things that the South has to offer. If all the cool people left, we’d lose the backbone of what the South truly is behind the cloud of weird right-wing conservatism.
8. “Liar, Liar” By I Wanna Start a Band, Massie99
Synthy cyberpunk meets internet glitch-pop in this frenzied, fun release that totally leans into the forgotten art of play. Referencing things like racecars, Nascar and candyland, the lyricism is a bit nonsensical but in a deliberately amusing way. Lyrics like “You’re such a fraud / Run up my credit card / A shiny new guitar / And you can’t even play it,” add to the not-so-serious, visionary vibe of the song.
“Tell Me”
"Tell Me Once, Tell Me Twice”
9. “Tell Me” By Total Wife, Joyer
With production that feels like flashes of light, a favorite memory or a forgotten feeling, Joyce Manor’s “Tell Me”remixed by Total Wife, invents a false forever in a 3 minute and 26 second track. There’s nostalgia seeping through the cracks of this feeling-forward dream-pop single— adding to the objectively cool DIY-scape that’s hiding in basements and bedrooms here in Nashville.
10. “Tell Me Once, Tell Me Twice” By RYMAN
Leading up to his highly-anticipated studio record Growing Pains, Nashville-native RYMAN has been sending pieces of the album out into the ether of the internet via single drops, the latest being “Told Me Once, Tell Me Twice.” Growing Pains is infused with simple yet unanimously relatable complications that are inevitable during the universally transitional period that is your early 20’s.
