Jesse’s End of 2020 List

Vinyl - At the beginning of the pandemic we bought a sectional couch and moved the TV into the basement and the record player upstairs. It transformed the room, our evening, and our pandemic lives as my boys were relegated to the basement for video games and movies. Although it quickly became clear that there were some holes in my vinyl collection - notably all my wife’s favorite albums. That obviously had to change.

Comfort Music - With all the shit that went down last year -- and STILL MOTHERFUCKING GOING ON!!!!!! -- I keep falling back on old favorites to get me through the day, raging along to Algiers, family singalongs to the Head and the Heart, drinking to Frightened Rabbit, drinking to Yola, drinking Blitzen Trapper, and running to just about everything, especially classic/retro soul. Apparently, I can run for miles fueled by Otis Redding, Black Pumas, Los Coast, and Benjamin Booker. 

Algiers - There Is No Year - Speaking of Algiers, their new album was pure fire, even before 2020 really got going. Along with fellow Atlanteans Run The Jewels, Algiers catalog was at the center of my social justice playlists.

Jeff Rosenstock - NO DREAM - 2020 needed a punk album and was the one for me. Just the right mix of singalong, politics, humor, quiet/loud, and indie structural shifts to make it fun, engaging, and of the moment. Plus, Ellis I love to scream along to the title track.

Sunbathe - Somewhere In Between - I’m a longtime fan of Maggie Morris’ Genders and solo work, and this might be her finest. I just love the rolling reverb soaked wistful and longing lyrics. While she may be tired of drinking her feelings, I certainly needed it to moderate mine. Any other year, I would have gone to all her Portland shows.

DEHD - Flower Of Devotion - A wonderful recommendation from Larson! If I described some of the bonkers vocal hooks, you might not check it out, but just know it’s damn catchy, and it all works. One of a couple socially distant musical connections this year that filled me back up.

Girlhood - Girlhood - A late add that I picked up a brief mention on Hanif Aduraquib’s Instagram, and if I focused on the influences - 90s R&B, Sade, 90s British dance music, I probably won’t have listened, but it is so good. Try not to dance along to the closer!

Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud - First introduced to her one of these end of the year lists and love her last two albums. It’s been on heavy rotation all year.

Sturgill Simpson - Cutting the Grass - At the top of the list in a year full of cover songs and live albums. Although technically not either, the new bluegrass versions bring new life to some of my favorite songs. Maybe in 2020, artists and fans just needed to hear music they already loved a little bit differently.

KaiL Baxley - Beneath The Bones - A delicious mix of soul, gospel, blues and Americana. His smokey vocals pull it all together whether strutting across the floor or hunkering by the campfire. It’s practically soul food for me. 

KaiL Baxley · American Soul

Happy Record Store Day! (4/17/10)

Time to celebrate the best mini-holiday of the year. You can find your participating location here. Some stores will be hosting in-store performances, bands are issuing limited tracks on vinyl, and you may get your hands on a lost Rolling Stones single today (wait, what?!). Enjoy yourselves and my favorite record store-esque photo above. Remember: just don't tell anybody you don't own Blonde on Blonde.

Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade (2009)

This is the third full length album from the band, and it came out right on the heels of the vinyl-only release of Malevolent Grain ep. Malevolent Grain was a 2 song 12" ep which introduced the touring bass player, Will Lindsay (formally of Middian) as the full time guitar player. Black Cascade is the first full length album with the new guitar player, and it is really really really good. Black Cascade was recorded on 2-inch tape, and mixed with a 1973 Neve console by Randall Dunn.

WITTR are from Olympia, WA at the base of the Cascade Mountains. The band states that they "strive to create a mythic space where artist and listener alike could strip away the mindset of the mundane to reveal a more ancient and transcendent consciousness. The mysterious and wild energies of the untrammeled forests of the Northwest would be channeled into sonic form." I'm assuming from the title that the Cascade's played a part in this album, as a source of inspiration.

I got WITTR's first album on a recommendation from a friend and dismissed it for some reason for almost a year. I put it back on the stereo for another listen, and completely fell in love with the band. The songwriting of their albums has always been amazing, and Black Cascade is no exception. The album has 4 songs, one for each side of the 2lp. 15 minute opus' pretty much rock my world. On Black Cascade, the songwriting seems to be a little bit more fluid, and complete. The first track, 'Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog' has a reoccurring riff that pops up in the album several times in each of the tracks. My favorite track on the album is 'Ex Cathedra', which opens up with the sound of wind passing through leaves, and fades into the melodic, but blistering riffs that truly put my mind somewhere else. The other two songs on the album are equally amazing. Each song has its own highs and lows, riffs and ambiance, and beauty and horror. The thing that I love about WITTR is their ability to make a beautiful song that really affects me emotionally, but still stays brutal enough to be considered extreme music. The music is able to make me feel like I should be walking through a forest listening to it, while the vocals have such a depressing tone to them that makes me feel like I should bury a knife in my chest. Its so fucking good.

If you don't own any WITTR, you need to get this album. If you own their other albums, you need to get this album. Each time I listen to it, I pick up on more and more. The warmth of the record because of its analog recording, and the content being cold as ice makes is so good to listen to.

"Black metal, by definition, creates a deep psychedelic wash by layering guitar and submerging melody in the chaos. This is one part of black metal that we will always stay true to." - Nathan Weaver.