Homegrown music makers have a full plate in ’18
Here it is, 2018, stretched out before us like an open road just waiting to be explored. Traveling that road will require a soundtrack, which is why we put out the call to Arkansas musicians for details on what they are working on for the new year.
The result is a list of planned new music from Natural Statebased acts. Some have firm release dates, some are approximate, some are still up in the air — you just can’t pin down these musical types. They range from pop and metal, hip-hop and rock, to country and punk. Let’s take a look.
North Little Rock singer-songwriter Brian Nahlen has been working on the follow-up to his album, Cicada Moon. Nahlen says he and his band will release a single, “In the Old Days,” in the next couple of months, with plans for an LP or EP later this year, possibly by June or July.
Dave Morris of Fayetteville garage rockers The Inner Party says his band’s new album, Darker, should be out by summer on the Let’s Talk Figures label and the band’s own imprint, Imperfect Entertainment. A single, the grungy banger “Djingo Unchained,” is already up at the group’s bandcamp. com page.
Stephen Koch says his rootsrock project Arkopolis will release Grand Mal, the follow-up to 2011’s Excruciating Circumstances, this summer.
Little Rock garage trio DOT — Melanie Castellano, Jordan Wolf and Correne Spero — have finished mixing songs for an EP, tentatively called Enter the DOTosphere, that might get expanded into an LP before all is said and done. Spero says plans are for a summer release.
Northwest Arkansas black metal outfit Tel Anorath is mastering tracks for its self-titled debut EP. Look for it possibly by March, says guitarist Jay Minish.
Joshua Asante of Little Rock band Amasa Hines says the group has finished a new EP and is shopping for a label, with plans for a release this year. Asante is also working on a solo record he says should be completed by fall.
Central Arkansas metal legends Rwake are demoing new music this year, says drummer Jeff Morgan. There could be a late 2018 release, but he is leaning more toward 2019.
Meanwhile, Rwake singer Christoper Terry’s other band, Iron Tongue, will release an EP, perhaps called -7-, later this month or at the beginning of February.
It Took the Shape of a Bird, singer-songwriter Adam Faucett’s much anticipated follow-up to Blind Water Finds Blind Water, is set for this spring on Last Chance Records. New music from non-Arkansans John Paul Keith (March 2), Andrew Bryant of Water Liars (March 9), Ian Moore (March 23) and Austin Lucas (May) are among the 2018 projects for the Little Rock-based Last Chance, says owner Travis Hill.
Cedarville country singer Nick Swaim’s single “Apple Pie” on the Dallas Street Productions label should drop on Feb. 23, according to producer Jesse Fenwick, who says the song is about “growing up in the hills of Northwest Arkansas where moonshine and the outlaw way of life still thrive.”
Little Rock alternative rockers Collin vs. Adam plan to release a new single each month for the next seven to eight months, which will all be gathered, along with other tracks, on an LP. The latest, “In the Corner,” with its moody, ’80s new wave synths, is at the group’s bandcamp.com page now.
Folk duo Ten Penny Gypsy
of Little Rock have plans to record an EP this summer at Admiral Bean Studio in Loxley, Ala., with former Neil Young bandmate Anthony Crawford, who they worked with on last year’s self-titled debut.
Maumelle indie pop singer songwriter Tiffany Lee says she is recording the follow-up to 2016’s soulful Jailbird EP. The new project will also be an EP, she says. No release date as of yet.
Veteran Little Rock rapper Pepperboy has a follow-up to his KRWU planned for the Green Ova South label, although a date is elusive. An EP, Make Me Cry, is set to drop at his bandcamp.com page on Valentine’s Day, he says.
Folkie S.J. Tucker of Conway County is working on an EP based on Arkansas folklore. Her song “Look to the Water” is included in a short documentary about the river people of the St. Charles community that will debut Feb. 9 at the Butler Center in Little Rock. She’s also recording an audiobook to Hot Springs author Denise White Parkinson’s Daughter of the White River: Depression-Era
Treachery and Vengeance in
the Arkansas Delta.
Gospel rapper B. Keys released his latest, L.O.G.in., back in December and says he is working on new music with fellow gospel rapper Derrick Houston, although he’s not sure when it will see the light of day.