Nashville-based Spazz Cardigan makes a welcome return today with the official music video for his single “Nerves.” In the new music video, Spazz Cardigan creates a surreal purple-tinted dreamscape that perfectly compliments his unique alt-pop sound. idobi Radio premiered the video, calling it “an ultra creative piece of art.”
When asked about the inspiration for “Nerves,” Spazz Cardigan explains that it was written just after the 2016 presidential election. He continues, “the feeling of suffocating and not being able to communicate was something constantly on my mind, personally & politically.” The video, which features shots of Spazz quite literally suffocating, impeccably captures the meaning behind the music. The viewer can feel the raw anxiety, making it a poignant and captivating watch.
Drawing elements of indie-pop, alt-rock, and electro-pop, Spazz Cardigan is creating a unique sonic hybrid that undoubtedly stands out among the masses. Spazz was raised on a diet of NSYNC and Michael Jackson before discovering Queen at age 10, sparking a religious determination to create and perform. Growing up outside of Louisville, he was classically trained as a piano player before teaching himself guitar, bass, and drums. He began gigging at 11, playing in a handful of punk cover bands while learning how to produce and mix music on a Tascam 4-track tape recorder.
After applying to college with no way of affording it, he opted instead to move to Nashville two days after graduating high school to pursue making music full-time. He found early footing in the city by falling in with a hip-hop collective called The Diatribe, where he incubated his production technique. He wrote and recorded his LP ‘I’ while moving couch to couch over the greater part of two years before self-releasing it in early 2017. His 2018 singles, including “Nerves” and, most recently, “Over,” have all debuted on Spotify’s New Music Friday.
Spazz is a product of the Millennial post-genre landscape; a studio polymath and an electric live performer with a wide array of influences spanning Kanye West to Bjork, David Bowie to Sun Ra. His imaginative, textural pop defies simple definition and transcends genre with a uniquely accessible voice.
