The Modern Royals recently added some new music to their website, including this gem, “Telephone.” It’s slightly bluesy (thanks in part to their Chicago origins), and then veers off into the swirls of psychedelia, especially in the dual guitars on the back end of the song. “Here Today” keeps the same trippy vibe, but has a nice garage-y sprawl to it as well. Listen to them both on their website, then sign up for their newsletter to keep abreast of their activities. –Terra James-Jura

Here’s a brief round-up of the recommended goings-on in Nashville this weekend:

Friday: Josh Farrow The Deslondes, Banditos and Margo & the Price Tags take over The Basement for a night of western-tinged Americana. The show starts at 8 and costs $5.

Things will get loud and louder at The High Watt with That’s My Kid, Friendship Commanders, and Best Friend.  The show starts at 9pm, and cover is $5.

Saturday:  Starting at 10am until 6pm at Marathon Music Works is Cabin Fever Heyday, an indie-bazaar allowing the browsing of arts, crafts and vintage goods and the consumption of truck-food.  

The Mascot Theory, IIIrd Class, Wheathouse and Marylanders (sp?) Pompeii Graffiti will tear you up fooBar for 5 bucks.

Artist of the Month winners The Dirty Things and Road to Bonnaroo crowd favorites Them Vibes play at Mad Donna’s.  Show is at 9, and the show is free.

Sunday: Southern rockers The Vegabonds and sharp popsters Dinner & a Suit will open for Fort Worth’s The Unlikely Candidates at Exit/In.  Show starts at 9, and tickets are $8 in advance and $10 day of show.

Anchor Thieves, Weston & Friends, Mark Minelli and Valley Roots have you covered if most of your cash found its way into g-strings this weekend by playing at the Basement for free at 8.  Anchor Thieves were voted onto our Year End Poll for 2013, and the amusiement of decoding their website is enough to earn them a slot on 2014’s list.

On January 20th, Axon Projects quietly held their launch party at Soulshine Pizza (well, as quietly as two rooms filled with bands, students, and kids raffling off Sok a Joe’s can be). Residents nearby might have felt a slight tremor in the ground as a company with tremendous potential to become a major resource for budding artists made their existence official. Axon Projects is a social fundraising platform for musicians, set apart from, say, Kickstarter by offering project consulting and allowing users to keep funds raised even if they fall short of their initial goal. Their website also drives home their mind towards building a community with future events and showcases, so may they grow into yet another fortification to Nashville’s vibrant and supportive music scene.

The Astrochimps were part of the lineup for Axon Project’s launch party. The band is preparing to open their project with the creative crowd funder. “I’ll Tell You Tomorrow” is from their debut EP released the summer of 2013. Influenced by Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys, it shows their chops at keeping things groovy. Keep up to date with their progress and maybe contribute to their venture HERE. –Terra James-Jura

The first installment 8 off 8th Road to Bonnaroo was last night, Feb. 3rd, at the High Watt/Mercy Lounge, and Blank Range took first place. They earned high marks from fans and judges thanks to their magnetic chemistry and air tight musicianship, perhaps not unaffected by guest players from Apache Relay and Diarrhea Planet. This is already shaping up to be a great freaking year for Blank Range, after 2013 involved the release of 6-track “Phase II” in April and “Scraping/Before I Go to Sleep” in November. They are just about perfect for Bonnaroo, aligning closely to the festival’s mellow, down-home vibe, and similarly populated by kids hopped up on various things (in this case, possibly the ghost of Lou Reed.) How many peasant skirts will go flying when the crowds catch a whiff of these post-everything phenoms Nashville has thus far kept hidden? –Terra James-Jura

Vinyl Thief’s new single “Stop Motion” was released January 30th in anticipation of their EP (also “Stop Motion”) hitting TOMORROW. The track opens with cathartic piano and urgent drums, overlaid by vocalist Grayson Proctor crooning sweet, calming things like “precious little soul-“. The whole EP is deft, dreamy, and studded with unexpected twists, breakdowns, and tempo changes that make the listening experience more like an Easter egg hunt. For eggs filled with lightning. Their sound is so completely, flawlessly realized that it’s easier to imagine the band materializing naked and clutching synthesizers in a dark alley like a couple of T-800s than ever muddling through awkward living room/garage sessions. Click over here to listen to “Stop Motion” in its entirety. A full-length album is slated for a release later this year, and man, words fail me in how bad I want to hear it. –Terra James-Jura

The Daily Howl came out on top of the reader’s choice poll, and with good reason. The garage rock revivalists have built their following through high energy shows and deft mastery of cheeky, complex pop. Their latest release, “The Revolver EP” can stand its own as most well-done and least contrived nods to the Beatles (if their radical phase was influenced by honky-tonks and hot chicken), but beyond that, it is a one-two punch of bubbly rock and Southern swagger. These boys deserve every ounce of recognition and much more; The Deli Nashville wishes them a banner 2014, and raises an Old-Fashioned Country Breakfast in their honor. -Terra James-Jura

  For more information, check out http://thedailyhowlband.tumblr.com/

Feedback Revival just released this video for “Carry On,” which should touch those certain our downfall is in our tethers to technology and fans of neck tattoos alike. It’s a heavy-hearted love song with as much grit and emotion in the guitars as Dan Fenton’s vocals. He could probably sing the phone book and have me convinced it was my fault he’s broken. The band is preparing to bring their onslaught of Southern rock to the High Watt this Thursday, 1/30 for their album release show. El El, Queens Boulevard, Bones Owens, and Kim Logan join in on the brawl. The show starts at 7 and will be very well worth the $5 cover, especially for anyone who’s ever wanted to smash a laptop. –Terra James-Jura

Nashville’s Nest released their 5-song EP “Hadal” on January 14th. Fact of the day: the Hadal Zone is the deepest, coldest, most pressurized depths of the ocean. This idea of vast, frigid darkness lends itself as a very subtle but patent theme to this collection of songs. “A Moving Swamp” leads with a heavy guitar riff that sounds like it emerges out of the murkiness rather than is strummed. There’s enough weight in the low end to satisfy metal fans, but the track has some intelligent progressions that make it an interesting listen. With a fall tour in the works, “Hadal” is a sojourner of bigger things to come for Nest. –Terra James-Jura

Allen Thomson makes music that appeals to star children and Springsteen fans alike. He’s been kicking around Nashville for a few years, churning out sentimental Americana with a cosmic slant to it. At the moment he is booking himself a solo tour for the summer, and knowing his relentless work ethic made me chair-dance even harder upon seeing his name alongside Lucero and Cory Branan for a show at Exit/In on February 16th. This is a sampling of some of Tennessee’s finest, made even more awesome by the fact that tickets are available for $3 with an RSVP HERE. That’s a buck a band, and about 14 cents for each member of Lucero. Here’s “Dirt to Dust” for a little preview of the evening. –Terra James-Jura

Before you slip on your parkas, scarves, balaclavas and gloves to head out of the office this Friday, here is a sampling of a few of the events this weekend:

Friday: Mercy Lounge Anniversary Party with Fly Golden Eagle, Majestico, Clear Plastic Masks, Bully. Bad Cop, Heyrocco, and 1933. This is a free show celebrating another year Mercy Lounge has welcomed music fans into their establishment to get lost amongst its many levels. Party it up with some of Nashville’s finest on Cannery Row; things get going at 9 pm.

Get all manner of nostalgic with this lineup at The Basement: Allen Thompson Band, Magnolia Sons, and Little Bandit. Cover is $7, show starts at 9pm.

The Grayces emerge from the depths of the recording studio to play with The Asian Teacher Factory and Featuring Richard Koozie at The End. Since The Grayces have been in small dark rooms working on their new album for most of the winter, please, no flash photography. The show is $5, and starts at 9 pm.

Coin is playing at Exit/In with Sol Cat and Phin. Check out Coin’s amazing cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Cecilia” and try not to smile. Cover is $10, and the show starts at 8 pm.

Saturday: America’s favorite punkgrass couple Grace and Tony will be performing at The Basement. The Christian Lopez Band opens; cover is $10, the show starts at 7.

Alana Royale is throwing a single release show at Mercy Lounge with Buffalo Clover, Milktooth, and The Future. Ms. Royale and the gang are preparing to enter the studio to begin recording their first album, so buy some merch to finance their undertaking. Cover is $10, the show starts at 9. Here is the single in question, “Phantom Limb.” Get into it.

Experimental rockers The Ascent of Everest’s last undertaking was the soundtrack they were meant to compose for the short film “The Devil’s Damned to Try” (available to hear HERE). Their sense of tension and dark orchestrations made them a natural fit for the project, which was released September of 2013. Their Facebook profile promises “a stellar set in the works-“ which may see its first audience in 2014 at the Stone Fox this Friday, 1/24. Rounding out the bill is The Inscape and Hollow Ox (this may be their last performance, so it would behoove you to be in attendance just to say you were); the show starts at 9pm. –Terra James-Jura