Magdalena Bay is an imaginative duo from LA who released “Imaginal Disk” an album chalked full of wild production and smooth beats that ended up on many End of the Year lists, including ours. Our Record of the Week is "Imaginal Disk" by Magdalena Bay.

Live music this week ranges from R&B with Eric Roberson at City Winery to a collection of artists at the Blue Room for Juanaroo and Mollaplooza. For more events, head over to WNXP.org/events. But this week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Sound Journey featuring Kayce Laine happening at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. 

For a songwriter, the muse can be illusive. But for WNXP’s Nashville Artist of the Month, Gillian Welch, it was right in front of her eyes, and ours. In East Nashville, WNXP Music Reporter Justin Barney stumbled upon the inspiration for their new song.

Angélica Garcia is honoring her lineage. Born in Los Angeles by Mexican and El Salvadoran parents, Garcia was surrounded by music her entire life — her mother was a successful Latin pop recording artist — but it wasn’t until her latest record Gemelo that she truly embraced her culture. The singer, songwriter (and dancer) fuses hybrid-pop with Hispanic influences, and now on Gemelo, she builds on this foundation by singing primarily in Spanish. The record explores the different stages and types of grief, but with a vibrant instrumentation that still feels fun and light-hearted.

Watch Angélica Garcia perform “Juanita,” “Gemini” and “Paloma” from Gemelo live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

This week for What Where When-sday, we are talking holiday pop-ups with WPLN’s own Rachel Iacovone. Listen to our conversation for family-friendly recommendations, and check out the list below for all the holiday takeovers at local bars. (Rachel and I did a Christmas bar crawl last year, which you can check out here.) 

Sven Gamsky doesn’t want to be boxed in. The producer and musician who performs under the pseudonym Still Woozy has found comfort in psychedelic bedroom pop but continues to push the boundaries of his sonic approach. His sophomore effort Loveseat showcases this experimentation and vulnerability both lyrically and sonically. The expected synthesizers are still present but paired with sweet, layered vocals and occasional fuzzed-out guitars. The result is an expansive, welcoming 13-song collection that pushes Still Woozy’s artistry to new heights.

Watch Still Woozy perform stripped-down versions of “Lemon” and “Shotput” from Loveseat as well as the breakout single “Goodie Bag” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

On the surface, Pearl & The Oysters (the brainchild of Juliette Pearl Davis [Juju] and Joachim Polack [Jojo]) could be described as a breezy indie pop band. But a closer listen surfaces the complexity and intentionality in their songwriting. From music school in Paris to making records in Los Angeles, Juju and Jojo have stayed loyal to their love of jazz. While it’s a bit less obvious on their latest space-aged LP Planet Pearl, the jazz-inspired arrangements can still be heard throughout the synthscapes and bleeps and bloops of the feel-good album. The duo wrote the record from perspective of a space-dwelling castaway exploring Earth, but it touches on very human topics like mental health and the state of the world.

There are few bands with as much chemistry as Pearl & The Oysters. It can be heard on every piece of work the duo has released, but becomes even more apparent when watching them live. Watch the band perform “Big Time,” “Side Quest” and “Pacific Ave” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Grimey’s 25-year anniversary. The celebration is happening at the Basement East this Saturday, and we caught up with co-owner and founder Mike Grimes and co-owner and “vinylist” Doyle Davis.

The music world took note when Moses Sumney posted on socials about Hurricane Helene damaging his Asheville home. For an artist like him — who selects his surroundings as carefully as the genres he works in — the impact on his outlook has been profound. Senior music writer Jewly Hight spoke with Sumney about how grounding himself in the mountains has shaped his work, including his first R&B project, the “Sophcore” EP. It's WNXP's Record of the Week.

Over the last three decades, the Nashville singing and songwriting duo of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings has contributed a lot of songs to the folk canon. And the great tunes are treasured because they tell stories broad enough to be sung by all sorts of people.
But senior music writer Jewly Hight says that with their latest album, Woodland, Welch and Rawlings have subtly turned the attention towards their own, singular musical journey. So she rambled down that path with WNXP’s Nashville Artist of the Month.