WRVU’s Ashley Roh caught up with indie pop duo, joan, last week as they passed through Nashville on tour supporting flor. They talked musical inspiration, hobbies, tour life, and goals…
An early look at WRVU’s new space After a long summer of construction, our new station is nearly finished. WRVU is thrilled to announce that we’ll be back to regularly…
By the end of 2017, Claire Cottrill had gone viral with her lo-fi bedroom pop single “Pretty Girl” under the moniker Clairo. Her growing success quickly drew criticism from people…
If there’s one thing I learned this weekend while attending Pitchfork Music Festival, it’s that bad weather will not stop a crowd of music lovers. Faced with sweltering, 95+° heat…
Three things in this life are certain: death, taxes, and the fact that Pitchfork Music Festival will boast the most eclectic, value-packed lineup of the year. In 2019, this proves…
This summer WRVU, along with multiple other student media spaces in the Sarratt basement, will be undergoing some exciting renovations. In addition to getting all new equipment, the station will…
Better Oblivion Community center exploded onto the scene upon announcing their self-titled debut album at the beginning of 2019. The folk-rock duo, composed of Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst (of…
Listen to WRVU Thursday and Friday afternoon and keep up with our social media for a chance to win tickets to SALES on March 30th at Basement East. Check out…
Five years after his acclaimed debut album, Hozier has returned. If you listen to the internet, he has spent these last five years journeying the Earth to bring us the sounds of the forest and show us the melodies of our deepest, hidden emotions. Wasteland, Baby! is the haunting result.
Hop Along is a part of the conversation. This past year saw the takeover of indie by women, and Frances Quinlan is another prime example of this. Her band’s most recent release, Bark Your Head Off, Dog, has consistently ranked across many major music publications’ best of 2018 lists, including the likes of NPR, Billboard, and Rolling Stone. Rightfully so, as the group’s third record is their most powerful yet. Quinlan’s unique style of world-building storytelling shifts to the forefront on this album, a necessary move given the extent and consequent of the issues she works hard to tackle and contextualize here. The line ‘strange to be shaped by such strange men’ appears on multiple tracks and is repeated like a mantra across the record, a tactic that is intentionally unavoidable and jarring (especially when put to words by Quinlan’s hair-raising voice). This powerful motif unites the project around a common theme of social reflection and reconciliation— one that is about as 2018 as you can get.
The Ryman Auditorium often challenges its visiting artists. For Rainbow Kitten Surprise, this manifested as a battle over energy. But they still crushed it.
If you’re into Courtney Barnett or Sleater-Kinney, chances are you’re already a fan of Katie Harkin’s work. She got her start as the guitarist for English rock band Sky Larkin…
Considering South by Southwest’s dizzying size, it’s no surprise that this year’s mammoth festival-conference-conglomerate will feature roughly fifty Nashville-based bands and musicians. (That’s not including countless Nashville-based “unofficial” artists making…
The band’s snappy drumwork and wild synths were complemented perfectly by their visuals, which included an impressive light array and three tireless dancers who roboted, wriggled, and rocked their way through much of the show in full space suits.
World-class guitarist and songwriter Kurt Vile, along with his backing band, The Violators, are on tour and playing Nashville for the first time in over a year — sure to grace the crowd with their stoned 70s rock sound.
Sophie Allison, also known as Soccer Mommy, has emerged as an intensely creative and moving female artist in the last few years. At only 21 years old, Soccer Mommy is already extremely accomplished: since 2016, she has released three albums including her debut album proper, Clean. Clean is a massive critical success and is cited as one of the best albums of 2018 by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NME, and Noisey, among others.
Women are more visible in today’s music scene than ever before and one thing is absolutely clear – they’re crushing it. From noname to Snail Mail, women have continued to release incredible, innovative music that demands attention. Beyond that, women are emerging as powerful music executives, leading the industry from behind the scenes. Using their shared experiences as a basis for understanding, women in music are empowering each other and thriving as a result.
Last week, King Princess graced us with a stop on her “Pussy is God” tour in Nashville. Debuting in 2018 with her ep, Make My Bed, King Princess is already cementing her reign as one of the premiere rising pop stars. Make My Bed is a masterful blend of catchy hooks, emotional, and self-aware digs, backed by a strong queer identity, and earned her an almost cultish following. Exit/In was a surprising venue given her popularity, and sold out nearly instantly. The intimacy of the venue, this venue was the perfect place to stage her show.
The worlds of folk and Americana music are, at best, in constant struggle between the future and the past. While some folk bands cling to what is familiar, the finest artists see the past as a springboard into fresh new sounds. This was the case with Bob Dylan’s iconic Newport Folk Festival controversy, as it was the case with Fleet Foxes’s breathtaking 2017 album, Crack-Up. Goes West by William Tyler joins this pantheon by continuing not only to push the envelope, but also to open it and slide a letter of his own inside.
The “one-person-band” known as Tash Sultana rolled through Nashville last Friday as part of their Flow State World Tour, named after their new album released at the end of August. An Australian native, Tash Sultana fuses psychedelic rock and slow, swinging reggae to create an ethereal environment that invites the listener to get lost in the sound. Tash’s captivating music has gained them avid followers worldwide, who have been known to jump the barricade after the show in order to get closer to the artist.
The 1975 has never been the band to shy away from extravagance. From the self-titled song appearing on all three of their albums to their ostentatious project titles — I’m…