20 years after their formation, THE PRIVATES returned to Battle Tapes to record their first new material in over a decade. “Don’t Take It Out On Me” is one of two brand new songs from those sessions and it’s available TODAY.

The track evokes the same high energy, euphoric, good times (cut with just a dash of introspective melancholy) that their previous material did 14 years ago. It’s an absolute classic.

Adding to this great news is the fact that the song is also now streaming everywhere. So go toss it in a playlist, share it with a friend and spread the word.

You can get The Privates on vinyl for the very first time ever with their new Best Of compilation, We Are Really Rocking Now, Haven’t We?

Back in 2009, THE PRIVATES performed and recorded with Lake Fever Sessions – an in-studio performance series that was filmed at Lake Fever Productions, the Music Row studio owned by Jason Bullock, Joe Baine Colvert and John Baldwin. The Privates performance was the inaugural session for the series, the very first of many great performances.

Bullock had recorded the majority of the bands material to that point and it was fitting for The Privates to kick things off. They performed a number of songs, including “I’ll Be Honest” – the second track from their then-recent EP, Motion. The video performance shown here is from that session but the audio is taken from the 2024 remastered version, available on the bands new Best Of compilation: We Are Really Rocking Now, Haven’t We?

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You can still see the entire original session – with the original audio – over on the Lake Fever Sessions Archive. The band also performs “You Never Take Me Dancing” and a cover of Paramore’s “Misery Business.”

Get it on Bandcamp or stream it everywhere.

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For the past six months, The Robe has delivered batches of new music that both feel like one cohesive grouping of songs and, inversely, feel like an  evolution of ideas from one month to the next. You can experience this yourself firsthand by listening to this playlist of every release from 2024 (it’s also on YouTube if you prefer).

When these songs are delivered there’s no additional insight, background information, inspiration or context about each track. Details are not divulged and, frankly, I prefer it that way. Describing my response and relationship with these songs requires me to find my own context; what do they songs mean to me rather than what did they mean to The Robe? 

This isn’t a controversial way to listen to music but it is less common these days. Take some time to listen to these new tracks and ask yourself what they mean to you. Put on headphones and listen for the unique sounds that are layered together. Get your brain noodling around on them. I’ll let you in a little secret – these songs will also get your body moving too.. if you let them! 

Enjoy!

YK Records is pleased to announce that The Privates will be releasing We Are Really Rocking Now, Haven’t We? on vinyl and digital this August 2024. The record is a compilation of the bands best work and includes two brand new tracks – “Don’t Take It Out On Me” and “Old Times” – recorded with Jeremy Ferguson at Battle Tapes.

For the uninitiated, The Privates were a Nashville based band from 2003 to 2010. They released two albums and two 5-song EPs in that time, playing a number of live shows that cemented them as a must-see, positively buoyant, good time. They weren’t together long but they made a big impact.

The number of hours I have personally spent listening to their entire discography – The Privates, Louder than Lightning, Barricades and Motion – is countless! Songs like “Hearts Got a Hole”, “I’m Telling” or “You Never Take Me Dancing” have never left the regular rotation. It’s an absolute honor to get to work with the band and cement this piece of Nashville rock history with a vinyl and digital release.

Pre-order the vinyl on Bandcamp now

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“No band has ever sounded quite like The Privates.”

That’s a quote from 2006, and it holds up.

For their seven years together, the Nashville indie rock outfit was a favorite of resident record geeks and the local press, who dubbed them “fiercely catchy, smartly arty and bursting with ambition” and among the era’s “top three bands to arise out of Nashville.”

On stage and on record, the band quickly won hearts and minds with controlled blasts of choppy post-punk rhythms, yearning melodies and general six-string chaos. The sound ricocheted off the walls of local dives and basements, and dipped into the sonic wells of Supergrass, The Strokes, Brian Eno, Deerhoof, The Walkmen and other fixtures of their CD binders. The band’s incendiary live show even inspired a short sci-fi film: Dylan Allen’s The Privates (2017), starring a fictionalized version of the band.

Unfortunately, Nashville was as far as the band ever staked a claim. In fact, they never played a show outside of their home state.

Still, The Privates were on the road. All four members, then in their 20s, had full-time gigs touring and recording with more established acts, including The Features, Lambchop and The Pink Spiders. It was a booming time in Nashville’s rock scene, a period that saw the rise of Kings of Leon, Paramore and Be Your Own Pet.

From 2004 to 2009, The Privates released two albums and two 5-song EPs, and quietly played their final regular show in 2010. Aside from a one-off reunion in 2013, the members haven’t performed, written or recorded together since.
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UNTIL NOW.

The Privates—Dave Paulson, Ryan Norris, Keith Lowen and Rollum Haas—have reunited to write and record two brand-new songs, “Don’t Take It Out On Me” and “Old Times.” They will bookend the band’s first-ever vinyl release, a best-of collection entitled We Are Really Rocking Now, Haven’t We?, which will be released on YK Records. The 14-track set also features remastered selections from the band’s entire discography, including “Heart’s Got a Hole,” “Pocari Sweat” and “You Never Take Me Dancing,” and features a gatefold sleeve with photos and artifacts from their original run.

In 2010, the band stopped booking shows, but never formally broke up. To mark the 10th anniversary of their first show, the band reunited in 2013 for a one-off gig, playing their debut album in its entirety. In 2023—20 years after their formation—they returned to Jeremy Ferguson’s Battletapes to record the new songs.

Plans are underway for a reunion concert/record release celebration in Nashville later in 2024.

Visitor is the debut full-length from Annie Williams. It’s far from her first foray into the world but it’s the first official collection of songs that felt ripe and ready for gathering together.

Chris Crofton’s writeup about the album refers to the the songs as “sacred and profane.” This excerpt is particularly perfect:

“I’m interested in the secular sacred – kindness, flowers, coffee, music, waterfalls, being of service – that sort of thing. If you get enough kindness and coffee in one place – for me, that’s church. Annie Williams takes you to that kind of church. These songs of hers are sacred spaces. Little universes, where, through the honesty of Annie’s voice, small subjects become large. In Annie’s world, a lost dog (“Midnight”), the movie “Thelma and Louise” (“Thelma”), a highway (“Hwy 287”) and love (“Oh My Love”) are all equally-worthy inspirations.”

— Chris Crofton on Visitor

That phrase “small subjects become large” really gets me. Listening back to “Midnight” or “Getting Old” I am struck by the lyricism of pondering events that have happened to us all. Annie is able to transform those experiences into an emotional expression that is rare, to say the least. With other tracks, “Lover Like You” and “Oh My Love” come to mind, my heart breaks with Annie’s delicate songwriting and delivery are ethereal.

This is only the beginning for Annie Williams. I’ve heard the next album and it’s just as brilliant as Visitor (albeit different). Her ability to articulate the feelings of her own experiences or those of a character (see “Louise”) are extremely poignant and wonderfully immersive.

The album is available on limited edition jade colored vinyl, digital download and streaming everywhere. Do yourself a favor and get it into your ears as soon as possible.

2024 has been a godsend for new music by The Robe. For the first four months, two brand new songs were released every month. Now, here in May of 2024, The Robe has delighted us with a four song EP – the May Throwaway EP.

Don’t be fooled by the title tho! These are not b-sides or recording scraps, these are fully fleshed out, delightful, new offerings from The Robe. If you’re one to pay attention to lyrics, you’ll find the release title tucked inside of “Passerby.“

You can pick up a digital copy of the EP over on Bandcamp or stream them everywhere you like.

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While we’re on the topic of The Robe – spend some time with this 2024 playlist of all of the releases for the year. They weren’t devised as an album but now that we’re at 12 tracks, it’s a treat to listen to them as such!

The Robe will be playing at The 5 Spot here in Nashville, TN on Thursday, June 6th with Baseball Bat. This is a 6pm show so get there on the early side.

The second single from Annie Williams debut album, Visitor, is now streaming everywhere. Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music.. you name it, it’s there!

Every track on Visitor is a poignant piece of work but “Getting Old” always struck me especially so. As an adult, the lyrics are beyond relatable – who amongst us hasn’t looked in the mirror and considered another year passing? Musically, the song manages to skirt the line between an elevated optimism and quiet melancholy. Once the choir of voices kick in for the chorus, you’re hooked.

Visitor will be released in full on May 29th. Annie will play a show in celebration over at Soft Junk with Styrofoam Winos and Shrunken Elvis. Coincidentally, it will be her birthday too.

You didn’t think April was going to slip past without new music from The Robe did you? No way! Two brand new songs are now available everywhere – “The Beat” with “Dark Circles.”

Every month so far in 2024 The Robe has unleashed two new songs; each a surprising evolution in sound and style. There is, intentionally, no back story or behind-the-scenes making of tales to share with you. Just listen and form your own stories for these songs.

I’m biased but highly recommend giving this playlist of all of this years releases a listen. Just tap on that first track and let it roll!

The Robe: All 2024 Releases

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As luck would have it, we released this CHOOSE ROBE shirt a few months back and the pink variant works quite nicely with the artwork for “The Beat” / “Dark Circles.”

Per usual, The Nashville Scene provided a great deal of coverage for Record Store Day activities across the whole city for the 2024 festivities. In particular, they captured performances from The Groove and Vinyl Tap, extensively.

This 2024 Recap piece from them features so many incredible photos and summaries of the performances that it goes without saying it’s worth a read. They were kind enough to make special note of the Tower Defense performance at Vinyl Tap, saying:

Rock stalwarts Tower Defense, meanwhile, practically blew the windows out with tunes from across their post-punk-inspired catalog, including their newest single “Friendly Factions.” Their music continues to be a sterling example of how growing older and feeling more responsibility, both personal and civic, doesn’t mean you have to stop rocking — in fact, that’s one of the best ways to cope with the anxiety and reach out to others. 

“In Nashville sometimes and Tennessee especially, it can feel hard to feel like you’re at home sometimes, so watch out for your neighbors, keep your loved ones close — those that might be targeted by, I don’t know, the state legislature,” said singer-bassist Mike Shepherd. “This is our town, and they can’t take it.”

I don’t want to overstate how great of a review this is but it does summarize many of the feelings expressed in literal Tower Defense songs. Go listen to “Schools” or “Friendly Factions” to hear the band blast out songs about being relevant and feeling upheaval at our local politics, respectively.

All that is to say, many thanks to The Scene and photographer Steve Cross for capturing such a wonderful weekend. Hopefully more YK artists get invited back next year.

YK Records is honored to present Visitor, the debut LP from Nashville based Annie Williams. The collection of songs within Visitor find a balance between the delicately introverted and the euphoric extrovert. That seeming dichotomy is the result of indelibly intimate lyrics being wrapped inside drum machines, sidewalk casio keyboards, acoustic guitars and beautifully delicate vocals.

Truthfully, Annie’s music is best explained by Nashville writer Chris Crofton; in his words…

Do you ever think about “the sacred and profane?” I do. Especially these days, I’m interested in the sacred. And I’m not talking about religion. Nothing against religion, but I’m interested in the secular sacred – kindness, flowers, coffee, music, waterfalls, being of service – that sort of thing. If you get enough kindness and coffee in one place – for me, that’s church. Annie Williams takes you to that kind of church. These songs of hers are sacred spaces. Little universes, where, through the honesty of Annie’s voice, small subjects become large. In Annie’s world, a lost dog (“Midnight”), the movie “Thelma and Louise” (“Thelma”), a highway (“Hwy 287”) and love (“Oh My Love”) are all equally-worthy inspirations.

Annie is based in Nashville, TN. You wanna know how she got here? She was playing her guitar at a party at University of Wyoming, and a touring gospel hip-hop group saw her. They invited her to come to Nashville, and be on their label. The deal fell through, but Annie stayed in Tennessee.

When you listen to this record, you might say to yourself, “Gospel hip-hop group? I don’t get it.” But I get it. At that party in Wyoming, sacred recognized sacred.

In the midst of the 24-hour news cycle, it’s easy to lose track of what’s important. Annie’s songs gently, effortlessly – and joyfully – remind us to refocus.

– Chris Crofton

Personally, I initially heard of Annie Williams when I saw her name in the credits of the first Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection album. I saw her perform at Grimey’s on “To Be Blinkered” and absolutely loved it.

The songs of Visitor can be heart wrenching. You can hear that on the first single, “Midnight,” that’s streaming everywhere today. They’re heavy songs but they’re also catchy, burrowing into your mind. They sit with you. This is good.

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We pressed the album to limited edition jade green vinyl. You can pre-order it over on Bandcamp and even get it bundled with a tote! We kept the run small on this, so act fast if you’re interested.

Annie will be playing a record release show on May 29th at Soft Junk here in Nashville. You’re advised to mark your calendars now.