STANDING ROOM ONLYTHE MINKS
The Minks are Nashville’s “psychedelic-blues” band, heavy on the rock and roll. We’re talking low-down, all the way, purse-lipped, eyes-shut, head-whirling kind of groove. In 2015, on a search for creative community, Nikki Barber started the band based on the idea that “if you don’t create, you’ll combust”. Just like a rock and roll circus, you never know what you’re going to get, but you know it’ll be good. The band’s palpable sound has roots in every music fan’s top ten—from Lou to Patti to Creedence to Hank – but blends them into something totally original and current. Mixed with raw, jangly instrumentation and soulful saccharine vocals, it’s as much a throwback as it is an answer to the often overlooked underbelly of Nashville’s rock and roll scene. Look for them, on tour forever, spreading the gospel of letting your hair down and having a good time. The Minks are here. Let’s boogie.
A five-piece band of creatives based in Nashville, TN, Future Crib delivers dynamic performances that bounce between poppy make-you-wanna-dance tunes and experimental yet engaging tracks that prod at life’s shared realities. There’s a clear preference for good songs and exciting sounds over genre bounds and expectations, and this is evident on their upcoming album, Full Time Smile, set for release in September 2021. Over all, Future Crib creates music for everyone, inviting all to a fun, welcoming show where you can feel free to get down.
Shane Perry, who plays guitar, sings, and writes songs for the Nashville rock band The Medium, says the group’s new album, For Horses, “is about leaving home.” As such, the record moves deftly among in-between spaces: between vintage sounds and modern ones, humor and sincerity, old stomping grounds and whatever lies down the road. “I’m having trouble adjusting to the world,” singer-bassist and songwriter Sam Silva admits on “Same Boat,” a woozy cut that encapsulates the band’s knack for channeling classic pop and psych-rock. “Nightmares, daydreams — what does it mean?”
The Medium’s first album, 2019’s Get It While It’s Hot, was bright and breezy and showed how well the band — Perry, Silva, guitarist-vocalist Michael Brudi and percussionist Jared Hicks — knew their way around a pop song. For Horses is recognizably the work of the same band, but one that’s now more confident, more ambitious, and more comfortable in the studio (Jake Davis, who produced Get It While It’s Hot, returns here). Opening track “Don’t Stay Out” wastes no time signaling the shift, as a dazzling four-part a capella verse gives way to a piano-rock tune punctuated by filigrees of saxophone. Midway through the album, “Let’s Get Together” and “Space Force” form a sort of two-song suite, mirroring each others’ lyrics while showcasing the band’s stylistic breadth: lo-fi southern soul and a serrated, Motown-inspired rave-up.