2015 – Page 3 – WRVU Nashville

This Thursday, October 8th, you have the opportunity to see an incredible live performance. Glass Animals will be playing at Marathon Music Works. I can assure you this is a show you don’t want to miss.

I saw Glass Animals this summer, back home in DC at the 9:30 club. It was the night before my 21st birthday and I look back fondly, knowing that was the last time I ever had to wear unsightly X-es on the back of my hands. Glass Animals really brought their A-game that night. I often use the term “high-energy” to describe exciting concerts, but that doesn’t even begin to cover it. This British band relies heavily on synthesizers, creating a dream-like atmosphere at their shows. Dave Bayley, the lead singer, is the stand-out member of the group. He gets so into the music, the intensity and passion are just infectious.

Pilgrimage Festival Sets High Bar in its Inaugural Year

October 2, 2015 Meredith Mattlin

Cage the Elephant's Matt Shultz showing off his acrobatics at Pilgrimage — Cage the Elephant’s Matt Shultz showing off his acrobatics at Pilgrimage

The forecast for Saturday in Franklin was rainy and bleak, hardly the weather thousands of eager Tennesseans wanted for the inaugural Pilgrimage Festival in Franklin. Big names like Cage the Elephant, Iron & Wine, and Wilco dominated Saturday.

The two-day event likely seemed quite cozy to seasoned veterans of the summer festival circuit, with only two main stages (and two smaller ones) and a schedule that frustratingly overlapped nearly every performer with another. Yet, the lineup itself made up for it.

Celebrating an R.I.P. 2 My Youth at the Ryman

October 1, 2015 Sara Keller

The Neighbourhood's black and white color scheme and beachy light display — The Neighbourhood’s black and white color scheme worked well with the beachy light display

Last Friday, September 25, while most of my fellow Nashville concertgoers were headed to the first night of Taylor Swift’s 1989 stop at Bridgestone Arena, a friend and I were on our way to the Ryman to see West Coast indie pop/rock group, The Neighbourhood. My friend had never been to the Ryman, so this summer when tickets went on sale at a fairly low price we decided to just go for it (little did we know that Sufjan Stevens would be announcing a show there merely 2 months later…sigh). The Neighbourhood seemed like a strange choice for the Ryman, as they had certainly lost a good deal of relevance (and not to mention, airplay) since the release of their first album in 2013. Despite that, I was excited mostly to see if they could pull off their unique experimental tracks live.

The Best Album You May Not Have Heard Of

September 29, 2015 Jordan Nunnelee

Every semester on the WRVU DJ application we are asked, “What’s your favorite album that no one knows about?” For the last four semesters I have declared that The Samuel Jackson Five’s Easily Misunderstood is, in fact, that album. I realize that there are probably some of you who have heard it, but I hope after reading this that some of you will scroll down to the embedded Spotify link and experience the post-rock mastery.

So, Wanna See a Concert for Free?

September 29, 2015 Julia Anderson

The title says it all – we are hosting a ticket giveaway for the Bo Burnham show at the War Memorial Auditorium on Monday, October 19! This is right after…

Solidifying Their Signature Sound: Deafheaven’s New Bermuda

September 28, 2015 Brandon Bout

In 2013, Deafheaven rose to the top of many “best album” lists with their sophomore album, Sunbather, and much of that success came from their ability to connect in an emotional way with their audience in a way similar to that of post-rock. From brilliant major-key peaks in distorted guitar bliss to ambient, shoegaze-influenced segments, Sunbather kind of made metal cool again. Many people who never imagined themselves being into metal loved that album. And now, after a few years, Deafheaven are releasing their third full-length, New Bermuda, with much anticipation. You can listen to the stream of the album on NPR here. The album is officially released on October 2nd.

New app! It’s pretty and incorporates our blog posts now!

September 28, 2015 Logan Wilke

Get it for iOS or Android to make listening and browsing on mobile a thousand times better~

Grace Potter Can’t Pick a Genre and That’s Okay

September 27, 2015 Katie Linek

If you haven’t heard of Grace Potter, you must be living under a rock. This Vermont native has been the frontwoman of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals since 2002. Together they’ve released four successful studio albums, most recently The Lion The Beast The Beat (2012). Potter is particularly praised for her powerhouse vocals and high-energy performances (which I experienced myself two summers ago – it was a blast).

Grace Potter is also recognized for her diverse solo projects. Disney fans may know her from “Something That I Want”, the song from the closing credits of Tangled. She has collaborated with big name country singers such as Kenny Chesney, rock legends like The Rolling Stones and Grammy award-winning producer T Bone Burnett. In addition to singing, Potter plays guitar, piano, keyboards, organ and the tambourine. Thirteen years in the music business and this multi-instrumentalist shows no signs of slowing down.

*Check out this video of “Empty Heart” (posted just last August)

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPEE33a8ufA

Oh Pep! In-Studio

September 27, 2015 Alex Justice

Sammy Spencer and Julia Anderson with Oh Pep!

On Thursday afternoon we were graced by a lovely in-studio performance with Australian folk duo, Oh Pep! Bringing a sweet Aussie attitude and an affinity for fried avocado tacos to the WRVU airwaves, Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs talked their upcoming album, adventures touring and their three, foot-stomping shows at Nashville’s Americana Festival. They broke down their carefully woven tracks and instead used just a guitar and fiddle/violin.

When I Discovered My Favorite Songs Aren’t My Favorite Songs…

September 26, 2015 Jamie Stoike

While I was on a road trip with my girlfriend this summer, I bravely ceded control of my iPod. Flipping through my playlists to find one she liked, she asked me if I wanted to listen to my Top 25 Most Played playlist–a playlist automatically assembled by iTunes and which I had no idea existed. What followed was a surprising series of mini-revelations as to what my favorite songs actually were.

I think that sometimes one gets so caught up in popular and critical opinion that it’s easy to fall in love with the idea of a song more than the song itself, or that you may love one song on an album so much you forget the songs around it that you listen to just as much. So color me surprised when, looking at my music library sorted by plays, The Decemberists didn’t crack the top ten. Nor did The National, or Arcade Fire, or many other bands that I love more than Rufus Wainwright, whose “Poses” is the 6th most played track on my iPod. And my two “favorite” Modest Mouse songs, “3rd Planet” and “Night on the Sun”? They weren’t there either. Looking at “Gravity Rides Everything” sitting atop the list, I realized that “Wow, that actually might be my favorite song.” It’s a strange bit of cognitive dissonance that results from this, triggering the realization that beliefs don’t always match actions. I may claim that “PDA” is my favorite Interpol song, but the facts disagree–and such was my experience with other bands.

With perhaps one exception, I didn’t anticipate any of these songs to be here–and yet they are. They’re the favorite songs that hide in plain sight; the unsung heroes; the crushes that you never notice until someone points it out. The end result is that the next time I’m asked what my favorite songs are, I may have to see if perception matches reality.

Next time you need a playlist to listen to, peruse your Top 25; maybe you’ll be just as surprised as I was.

In the meantime, here’s what I was surprised about: my top 10 most played songs.

WRVU Unplugged: Gettin’ Sweaty with Heather and Travis

September 25, 2015 Gracie Gonzalez

I get the idea that Heather and Travis would really love for you to listen to their show.

And I’m sure that most WRVU DJs would feel the same way – but Gettin’ Sweaty is a bit different.

They’re not here to educate you on what music’s now cool with the hip kids; they’re really just trying to improve your sex life

Turbo Fruits’ Intimate House Show with The Gills and JAWWS

September 25, 2015 Meredith Mattlin

“I remember when you couldn’t walk a block here alone at night, if you know what I mean,” Jonas Stein said into the mic at Turbo Fruits’ house show appearance Wednesday night. They played with The Gills—it was their album release party—and JAWWS, two enthusiastically chaotic, too-loud-for-the-living-room acts. The show, as Stein hinted, was in an up-and-coming neighborhood in a house that you’d expect to be a tad too small for the Nashville group (who have played for crowds both locally and around the national festival circuit), but the location was good for the modest hump day crowd.

Top 5 Fictional Songs from Television

September 24, 2015 Margee Howell

All of us have those TV shows we watch over and over. And if you are anything like me, those shows are comedies, and those comedies have weird parody songs in them. And if you are exactly like me, you probably know all the words to these songs and listen to them as if they were anything else on your iTunes. So here are a selection of my favorite songs from TV shows (in no particular order).

Pumpkin Spiced Playlist

September 23, 2015 Madeline Goetz

Lattes, candles, lotions and liquor—as soon as the leaves begin to change, store shelves are mercilessly spiced with the flavors of fall, and we’re all hit with the pumpkin plague, ready or not. To help make the farewell to summer less jarring, I’ve created a playlist packed with autumn aesthetics that is certain to lull you into apple-cider serenity for the next three months—or at least the next 89 minutes.

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

September 22, 2015 Linzy Scott

In a twitter blur, the world became aware of an approaching collaborative album between Future and Drake, two rappers who have been collectively running this year. Now, it’s important to note the considerable difference in each rapper’s dominance this year. Future has put in a decidedly inhuman season of being literally the best rapper today whose not named Jeffrey Williams. Seriously if you don’t know by now, you need to listen to the canon (56 Nights, DS2, Beast Mode, Monster). Drake has also been doing well in his own lane, releasing an album (IYRTITL), questionably silencing ghostwriter allegations, and a few songs and remixes here and there. I’m going to come clean though, I haven’t paid much attention to Drake of late, simply because Future and Young Thug exist. But, regardless, Drake, well he’s out here.

Taylor Swift Covers Come Just In Time For Fall

September 21, 2015 Laura Hillsman

Just kidding, technically it’s not fall until Wednesday. It’s pretty darn close though.

So here’s the deal: in October of last year Taylor Swift released her most recent album, 1989. It was a runaway success, selling the greatest number of albums in its first week since The Eminem Show released in 2002 according to MTV. Swift has since gone on an incredibly successful tour which will be swinging by Nashville on the 25th. I’d remind all Taylor Swift fans to buy tickets, but let’s face it-at this point they’re over $200 and you probably should have picked them up months ago. However, I’m not here to write about Swift’s upcoming show. Instead, I want to talk about the recent 1989 cover craze.

Helen’s The Original Faces

September 20, 2015 Linzy Scott

Just released earlier this month on Chicago-based indie stalwart Kranky, The Original Faces by the three-piece (4-piece?) Helen has quietly and self-assuredly proven itself on multiple listens as a high quality full-length relatively out of nowhere. Attention to the band was primarily due to its inclusion of Liz Harris in the roster, whose folk project Grouper has attracted considerable critical acclaim and admiration for its sparse intimacy and thrilling experimentation. This was certainly the case for me; when I heard that she had a “pop” band putting out an album I was immediately all in.

RTJ Let the Cat out of the Bag

September 20, 2015 Roshan Poudel

Winners of WRVU’s 2014 Album of the Year Contest, rap duo Run the Jewels has been no stranger to critical acclaim since the release of Run the Jewels 2 last year. Killer Mike and El-P have not dropped any new material since then, but are set to release a remix album sometime in September. Meow the Jewels, the idiosyncratic remix of Run the Jewels 2 fans have been waiting months to listen to, will feature the duo rapping their lyrics over cat noises. Just this week, Run the Jewels gave a little sneak-peak into the album with “Oh My Darling Don’t Meow”, a play on “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry”.

WRVU Unplugged: Without Vocals

September 18, 2015 Gracie Gonzalez

Maybe you’ve had the pleasure of knowing Bradley Wheaton. You might be aware that he’s a junior in Arts & Sciences, studying Sociology. What you may not know is that Bradley is the creator and host of WRVU’s show Without Vocals. If you haven’t tuned in yet, get yourself in the mood by imagining this:

You’re driving alone through west Texas, heating lightning in the distance. 300 miles of nothing…somewhere between despair and unseen beauty, an epic expression of soul.

Now, Bradley’s job is to provide a soundtrack for your lonely voyage – and he knows exactly how.

Best Coast Brings California Vibes to Exit/In

September 17, 2015 Sara Keller

Bethany Consentino, Bobb Bruno (far right) and band members — Bethany Cosentino (center), Bobb Bruno (far right) and band members bringing California to Nashville

Although I had heard of Best Coast prior to coming to college, ironically, it wasn’t until I left the west coast that I started to listen to them. Whether it was an actual appreciation for their music or just the nostalgia I felt about my Southern California hometown that piqued my interest, I do not know. Best Coast is technically a duo between lead singer/guitarist Bethany Cosentino and guitarist Bobb Bruno with a few other band members brought in seemingly just for touring. Formed in Los Angeles in 2009, almost every other song they make is an ode to the stereotypical Southern California lifestyle.

In Loving Memory: Summer 2015

September 15, 2015 Roshan Poudel

Fall is almost here and we have nearly been in school for a month. As we come to terms with all this change, the staff writers here at WRVU have decided to give one last ode to the albums we were jamming to on those bygone summer nights. In case you missed it, here are some albums we had our turn to enjoy and would now like to share with you.

Yearly Archives: 2015

Concert of the Week: Glass Animals