This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Show Yourself Music and Activation Fest with Alex Wong and Leah Light. Happening this Sunday at the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition in South Nashville, the fest will feature music from Wong, Mike Floss, Ruby Amanfu, Brassville, Vienna Teng and Steph Jacques, and will be hosted by comedian Cortney Warner with appearances from Equity Alliance and TIRRC Votes. 

Chicago’s indie music scene is bursting at the seams with young talent. Yet few are as cohesive as laid-back quartet Slow Pulp. Country-tinged indie rock with a hint of shoegaze combined with emotional songwriting makes Slow Pulp’s music sink into your body like a warm cup of coffee. It’s breezy and welcoming. Their latest full length Yard embraces that sense of comfort, blending fuzzy guitars with sweet instrumental arrangements that showcase Slow Pulp’s undeniable chemistry as a band.

Watch Slow Pulp perform Yard standouts “Doubt,” “Slugs” and “Cramps” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here. 

Nada Surf's "Moon Mirror" the veteran indie rock band's 10th LP now out on New West Records, is WNXP's Record of the Week. The band's front man Matthew Caws dropped by our studio to talk about the record and play songs solo acoustic.

There’s a sub-genre of documentaries that track down figures who’ve disappeared from public view. A new film called “Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story” captures Shane as a powerhouse R&B performer and a Black, trans woman who got her start in Nashville, then took the Toronto scene by storm in the 1960s. She eventually stopped performing and no one knew where she was. Decades later, Shane was excited to be found by a filmmaker, but she died before they could really get to work. 

Senior music writer Jewly Hight says the challenge became figuring out how to do justice to a performer who’d never been properly appreciated even in life.

Hinds is the duo of Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote who hail from Madrid, Spain and have made "VIVA HINDS" our Record of the Week.

Legendary singer, songwriter, and producer Swamp Dogg has a new documentary called "Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted" which you can check out during Americana and Nashville Film Fest. Director Isaac Gale and editor Paul Lovelace joined us to talk about the film and the subject of the film Swamp Dogg talks Americana Fest & new album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th ST.

One name that has kept popping up in the Nashville hip-hop scene since the late 2010s is Lul Lion. At shows, on projects and in collectives, she was often the only woman in the mix. And her music is really the only record there is of her story — she’s rarely given an interview.

The Tennessee native seemed to drop off the radar last year. Senior music writer Jewly Hight tracked her down in her current home LA, where she’s been reinventing herself. Her new EP, “Speed of Love,” is WNXP’s Record of the Week.

After six full length records, indie rock veterans Real Estate show no sign of slowing down or staying complacent. Their latest record Daniel showcases the band’s ability to create consistently hooky songs that are universally approachable and pleasant, but it also pushes their sound to new bounds. Recorded at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville, the New Jersey quintet embraced a bit of twangy tradition, following the current trends of many of their indie peers. Still, Real Estate stays loyal to the jangly guitars and sweet songwriting fans have come to expect.

Watch Real Estate perform “Water Underground,” “Flowers” and “Haunted World” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

This week for What Where When-sday, we talk Hispanic Heritage Month with WPLN’s own Rachel Iacovone.

Most artists move to Nashville to be part of the music community and land opportunities in the business. Not Conner Youngblood. He’s the WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month. And he’s quietly done his thing here for a dozen years. Senior music writer Jewly Hight met up with him at the one place that tenuously connects his new latest project to Nashville.