Swim Into The Sound's Favorite Stoner Rock Songs

4/20 is a dumb holiday. It’s not even a holiday — it’s an excuse for teenagers and college kids to spend the day stoned and making dumb jokes while consuming an inhuman amount of Little Debbie snack cakes, Arnold Palmer, and Wendy’s… At least, that’s how I’ve spent my fair share of April 20ths. 

Sure, it’s fun to have a weed-based holiday, especially as the drug becomes more widely accepted both societally and legally. While the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, public notion has taken a hard turn the other way over the last decade. As of April 20th, 2023, exactly 38 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia all allow for the medical use of cannabis products, while recreational marijuana is currently legal in 24 states — almost half the country. 

And yet, something doesn’t feel quite right. 

While it’s been affirming to watch public opinion shift on marijuana, I can’t help but feel like it’s a bit of a hollow victory. Yeah, it’s great that I can go and buy edibles from a drive-thru window in Denver. Sure, it’s sick that I can walk into a cafe in Chicago and buy a weed-infused lemonade. Of course, it’s awesome that I can visit New York and stop at a place called “Granny Za’s” and spend $10 on the most wack pre-roll I’ve ever smoked. It’s all there, and yet, there’s an elephant in the room in the form of our nation’s prison system. 

In reality, what this day should be about is abolition. We should continue to use 4/20 as a day to celebrate weed — I don’t want to take that away from anyone — but we should also use this as a day to talk about the unjust drug laws in this country and the ways that our government has wielded policies that acutely target people of color and those living below the poverty line, all for something that doesn’t harm anyone. 

For every sleek new dispensary that pops up in one of these newly decriminalized states, there are dozens, if not hundreds of people who have been locked up and held away from society for possessing things that you now can buy from the gas station around the corner.

I’m not even talking about just weed; harder drugs are part of this conversation, too. I know I’m not the most qualified person to speak on this, but I just want to make my position clear: fuck every prison, fuck every cop, and free everyone whose lives have been ruined by our unjust prison system. Fuck Richard Nixon, fuck the war on drugs, and fuck you if you don’t have any compassion for people struggling with substances. 

For a more articulate and decidedly less vulgar articulation on these topics, I recommend everyone read Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis. It’s available, in full, as a PDF here, so you really have no excuse not to sit down and read about the incredibly prejudiced system we’ve all come to accept as part of our societal fabric. Once you notice it, you can’t stop. A better future is possible, but if we’re going to work towards that collective future, it begins with understanding what we’re up against. 

To pivot back to music and back to this blog’s usually scheduled silliness, today we have a fun roundup celebrating Stoner Rock. Yes, Stoner Rock: the least serious, most embarrassing, and also most badass genre of music ever. It seems like the most appropriate way for us to celebrate the music, the culture, and where those two things intersect. Now, I only hope my team of writers understand the assignment. 

---

Kyuss – “One Inch Man”

Elektra/Asylum Records

I was (unfortunately) predisposed to love stoner rock from the jump. Once I discovered Paranoid in middle school, my fate was sealed. By the time I had gotten into Queens of the Stone Age in my early teenage years, there was no going back. Then-current groups like The Sword and Wolfmother set the stage for me to dig into older bands like Sleep, Fu Manchu, Asteroid, and Truckfighters.

My first real stoner rock phase came in college, ironically after I had consciously decided to stop smoking weed. I wound my way back through Josh Homme’s discography through the early days of Queens, past the meandering collaboration of The Desert Sessions, and all the way to Kyuss. In that band, I found albums full of the grooviest riffs and nastiest, most lip-curling guitar tones I had ever heard. While I enjoyed each of the band’s albums about equally, something kept drawing me back to … And The Circus Leaves Town. While “Hurricane” kicks the record off with some head-bobbing drums and sputtery guitar, “One Inch Man” gradually revealed itself to me as my Kyuss song. The three-minute track begins with a guitar lick I can only categorize as peak. The drums kick in, and almost instantly, everything clicks into place. It’s a grungy and cocky track that could easily soundtrack a smoke sesh, but also feels active and upright enough that you could strut down the street and feel like the coolest person alive with this blaring in your headphones. 

Taylor Grimes - @GeorgeTaylorG

Clutch – “Big News”

EastWest

As the resident Swim Into The Sound edgeman (which I have not confirmed but have yet to be corrected), you may think I am the least qualified to talk about stoner rock. However, as a young hesher, I discovered music in this genre before I even knew what to call it. “Freya” by The Sword being featured on Guitar Hero II was the first stone, if I may, and then came Clutch. I had first seen them as a featured artist on Viva La Bam, but my first time connecting with their music was when I heard “Electric Worry” on Comcast’s MusicChoice TV. When their next album, Strange Cousins From The West, was released in 2009, I bought the CD at Borders and told the cashier it was “blues metal.” He said that didn’t sound very crazy, as we all know, most rock music is rooted in the blues, and Robert Johnson supposedly selling his soul to the devil is about as metal as it gets. 

From then on, I became obsessed with the thick guitar tones and slow pace of doom, sludge, and stoner metal. Before I made it to the eighth grade, I was regularly listening to Crowbar, Eyehategod, and Karma To Burn. I started my first stoner metal-influenced band in high school, and then another one in college. Sadly, both of them were very short-lived, but my love for the riff persisted. For fifteen years now, Clutch has always been my favorite band of the style. They are absolutely the perfect American rock band to me. Unbeatable drum grooves from Jean-Paul Gastier, locked-in basslines from Dan Maines, all-time tasteful riffage from Tim Sult, and iconic lyrics and vocals from Neil Fallon. Clutch is on tour this year for the 30th anniversary of their debut album Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes And Undeniable Truths — what I believe to actually be the best DC hardcore record of the ‘90s. That album preceded their landmark 1995 self-titled LP, bridging the gap between their dirgy, riff-based hardcore and the oddball stoner rock they’d come to perfect. Many songs from the album are still Clutch live staples to this day, like the epic interstellar cruise anthem “Spacegrass,” and my personal favorites, the one-two opening punches of “Big News I” and “Big News II.” Everything about this suite remains exciting to me no matter how many times I listen to it. One thing I love about Cutch is that I have zero fucking idea what Neil Fallon is singing about half the time. He is a storyteller in every sense of the word, and with the exception of their earliest tracks, I’m not certain he reflects on his own experiences much in his lyrics (or he’s extremely talented at masking them with fictional characters or deep-cut historical references). 

“Big News I” begins the story of an old, raucous pirate ship on its way down with “Dutchmen on the mizzen mast, six harpies are singing to the lee” and “fifteen men on a dead man’s chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rye.” Musically, it’s got everything Clutch are experts at: a funky ass drum line, a killer bass lead, fuzz-toned guitars over the bass lead, and the expressive vocal style that only Neil Fallon can do. The way it moves between the swirling verses and aggressive choruses is dynamite, and when it transitions to the bit more aggressive second chapter, it’s absolutely seamless. “Big News II” comes in like a boat-busting iceberg, with the entire band kicking everything up a few notches. The line “fortune tellers make a killing nowadays” returns from “Part I,” and the way Neil screams it has made me want it as a tattoo for years. I mean, really, what other band could make shouting “A SAILOR’S LIFE FOR MEEEEEE!!!!!!” sound that badass? I’ve seen Clutch seven times, and I finally got to see them do these tracks at their most recent Chicago show. As an added bonus, they weaved in the fan hit “Cypress Grove” in the middle of the sequence, which made it all the more special. They are the absolute masters of their craft, from their very first 7” to 2022’s knockout LP Sunrise On Slaughter Beach. Okay, I’m gonna continue to not smoke weed and dial up my playlist of Bong, Bongripper, Bongzilla, and Weedeater.

Logan Archer Mounts - @VERTICALCOFFIN

Editor’s Note: Hell yeah to Clutch, but might need to cut this down a bit though, you have the longest entry, and you don’t even smoke weed.

Keith Jarrett - “Eyes of the Heart (Pt. 1 & 2)”

ECM Records

The last 4/20 I celebrated in earnest was 7 years ago. I flew from Evanston, IL, to Middletown, CT, to play a weekender all across Wesleyan with my old emo band. For the four of us, this meant an excuse to imbibe recklessly. (On our first night in town, someone procured a keg for our show at an off-campus art gallery, and we got so drunk our drummer Zach passed out behind the kit mid-set.) To cap off the run, the night after our last gig, we divvied up some mushrooms scrounged from dresser drawers and turned off all the lights; as the resident jazz guy, I was tasked to “play something crazy.” I threw on Keith Jarrett’s Eyes of the Heart, which had been getting some burn in my headphones during stoned evening walks, and we let our enhanced imaginations draw shapes on the dark ceilings. Released on ECM as Jarrett was splitting time between their forward-looking ambient-adjacent jazz and relatively more traditional be-bop stylings on Impulse!, Eyes of the Heart received mixed reviews from critics. It may not hit the astral heights of The Köln Concert or Bremen/Lausanne, but it’s nigh-perfect stoner jazz. Jarrett’s wonky percussion experiments are reverent but still goofy, and the band is killer: Dewey Redman on tenor, Charlie Haden on bass, Paul Motian on drums. Haden’s loping bass riff grounds the band’s forays into more spiritual territory before they drop, leaving Jarrett to the improvisations that characterized his work on ECM in the 70s. Unfortunately for our burgeoning buzz, someone’s sober-ish roommate decided to noodle along to the music on an acoustic guitar, Tallest Man on Earth-style; we tried to stare daggers at him, but I’d be surprised if anybody pulled off more than perplexed anguish. Within a year, I’d mostly give up weed for good. Legalize it, free anybody locked up for it, then let them get the first crack at making money off of it. For what it’s worth, I still roll one hell of a joint. 

Jason Sloan - @slaysonjones 

Editor’s Note: Stoner Rock—ROCK—as in “rock and roll music,” not jazz. Come on.

Washed Out – “Paracosm”

Sub Pop Records

This song sounds like flowers, man. What instruments do you know that sound like flowers? I heard this for the first time at the tender age of 14 and soon discovered that songs could be long, intricate, and serene. Somehow, in the first three seconds, I knew this was meant to be enjoyed as an experience, so I laid down on my basement’s rougher-than-shag carpet, put my noise-canceling headphones to full volume, closed my eyes, and just tried to breathe. At the time, I had no concept of drugs, but that didn’t stop me from trying to compare this experience with the stoner kids at lunch. I basically still don’t know what it means to get or be high, but I have to imagine the power scaling is something like this. With one cheeky puff, you instantly know the number of the nearest pizza place. Two bold quaffs, you can befriend anyone in a ten-mile radius wearing a tie-dye shirt, but you can only talk about Sublime for some reason. Finally, after three perhaps quite labored inhales of noisome smoke, I’m absolutely certain the imbiber is conferred the awesome ability to turn four-letter words into words of infinite length, one prime example being *ahem* “Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude…”

Braden Allmond — @BradenAllmond

Editor’s Note: When it comes to weed, you get it. When it comes to this assignment, however, you don’t.

Sufjan Stevens – “Fourth of July”

Asthmatic Kitty 

Getting stoned can be a bit of a mixed bag for the highly anxious like myself. At the very best, I’m closing my eyes and gleefully reliving all the best moments of my life, such as my favorite concerts. At the very worst, I’m crying on the couch and thinking about how everyone I love is capable of dying at any time. Most times, I’m marrying the two extremes by watching the Carrie and Lowell concert film and getting really worried about Sufjan Stevens.

While Carrie and Lowell is far down the list of Sufjan’s most stoner-friendly music, it still encompasses everything my experience with edibles has been: sort of religious and mostly a bummer. If I had to choose a single song to be my 4/20 anthem, it would be his live version of “Fourth of July,” where he builds on the line “we’re all going to die” for several minutes. Or maybe it’s several hours. By that point of my whooping 5 mgs, it’s really all the same. 

Lindsay Fickas - @lindsayfickas

Editor’s Note: I love Sufjan as much as the next guy, but stoner rock? Come on, let’s be real.

Corey Feldman – “Go 4 It”

CIFI RECORDS

When smoking weed, you want to be transported to another galaxy, a place far, far away, not knowing what’s real or imitation. No one deserves to be your tour guide more than Corey Feldman and his techno classic “Go 4 It.” He should be the final boss in any weed excursion. The song itself is pure mayhem, with a Michael Myers-esque synth intro jump scaring you into a Skillrex-created-if-he-was-deaf dubstep beat. Still, the cherry on top is that the “Grand Marshall of Ganja” himself, Snoop Dogg, makes an appearance, most likely mailing in his verse via carrier pigeon. You must watch Corey Feldman’s epic Today Show performance, which will encompass all your senses and take you to a state of ecstasy like none other. He gyrates, twerks and is dressed as if Assassin’s Creed just joined a motorcycle gang. But, buyer beware, the Feldster is only for weed experts; you are one step away from entering heaven or trying to escape the depths of hell.

David Williams - @davidmwill89

Editor’s Note: What the hell is thiiiiiis?

David Crosby – “Traction in the Rain”

Atlantic Recording Corp.

I’m the first to say I’m no aficionado on the niches and intricacies of proper ‘stoner rock.’ But I’m also the first to say that I’m a bit of an aficionado of ‘60s and ‘70s rock, where the ‘stoner’ part of it all was just implied. Aside from (or because of?) the fact that I have a somewhat parasocial relationship with the late-’60s Laurel Canyon scene, my ‘stoner’ self seems to always want to vibe out to jangly guitars and all things Americana. I smoke to try to relieve (suppress?) anxiety, and this era of music—anything from The Stone Poneys to Strawberry Alarm Clock—is what I’ve found that does it for me. So sue me. 

Not to mention that it feels a little sacrilegious not to acknowledge the grandfather of all things stoner and rock on a day like 4/20. David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name is the quintessential stoner album, a full-body experience that is one of the most necessary 4/20 listens I can think of. On “Traction in the Rain,” Crosby’s vocals are just the right amount of haunting, with Laura Allen’s autoharp flashing against his almost whiny intonation. On those days when I’m feeling run down by the grind, I turn to Crosby, singing “Hard to find a way / To get through another city day / Without thinking about / Getting out,” and I know he’s got me. With glitters of vocals and acoustic from partner in crime Graham Nash, Crosby is at his most vulnerable on an already personally exposing album; wondering where time has gone while also attempting to look ahead. 

So this 4/20, I recommend you sit down, light a Croz-approved joint, maybe look at a sunset, and take a minute to reflect. 

Cassidy Sollazzo - @cassidynicolee_

Editor’s Note: David Crosby would wilt if he ever heard real stoner rock. Let’s step it up.

Tears for Fears – “Mad World”

Mercury

Upon one of my first investigations into the world of what the guy at the bodega insists is called “zaza,” I found myself in tears. The culprit wasn’t the totemic pilgrimage of Sleep’s Dopesmoker or some blissed-out desert riffs, but a pop song. All of my research indicated that this weed stuff was supposed to help you relax, man, especially when you were listening to the dulcet tones of England’s finest duo, Tears for Fears. 

The first verse of their 1983 hit “Mad World” set the scene for me to succumb in stoned sadness — “All around me are familiar faces / Worn-out places, worn-out faces.” Holy shit, that’s a bummer! The grindset has distorted every smiling face into heavy, tired grimness. Only four lines later, our narrator is ready to “drown his sorrow,” praying for “no tomorrow.” It’s been a while since Sunday school, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to be praying for that. 

However, the chorus is what really gets your goat and makes it weep. By the time Curt Smith sings the immortal lyrics, “And I find it kind of funny / I find it kind of sad / The dreams in which I’m dying / Are the best I’ve ever had,” my cheeks bore a greater resemblance to Niagara Falls than to someone’s face. How could a dream of shuffling off this mortal coil like a pair of geriatrics on the ship’s deck be better than any other? I can’t imagine Smith has had too many fond dreams if those are at the top of the oneirology pile.

In two slight verses and a hell of a refrain, the band lives up to their name: these are definitely Tears caused by my Fears. It is a testament to the song’s potency that it catalyzed immediate journalistic action. I raced downstairs, looking like a human Coldplay song, to inform my roommates of the music’s tragedy. Uncertain but in agreement, they nodded and affirmed that the song “was a downer” and that they “like the version in Donnie Darko more.” 

If you measure a song’s stoner rock-ness by how much emotion it can elicit, “Mad World” is the greatest stoner rock song of all time.

Aly Muilenburg - @purityolympics

Editor’s Note: I see you trying to work some logic in with that last line, but it’s not working for me, this still ain’t stoner rock.

Caveman – “Shut You Down”

Fat Possum Records

I learned I'm not a stoner at a Phosphorescent show in 2014. Phosphorescent is an indie folk act from Huntsville, Alabama, primarily helmed by singer Matthew Houk. They were supporting their album Muchacho at the time. I was really captivated by their song "Terror in the Canyons" and wanted to go see them when they came to Columbus, Ohio, but I couldn't talk any of my friends into coming with me, so I chose to go alone.

Reader, I did not succeed in seeing Phosphorescent on that evening in 2014. That is why my contribution to this article is not listed under “Phosphorescent - ‘Terror in the Canyons.’” Instead, I took an edible gifted to me by a bagboy with a penchant for floral maxi skirts at that den of excess and debauchery known as Whole Foods Market, where I worked at the time, and freaked the fuck out.

I did, however, see their opener, Caveman: nicely dressed white guys who make what I call “bathwater music.” Bathwater music consists of a lot of disparate subgenres that were popping off in the early 2010s: chillwave, dreampop, witch house, vaporwave, a lot of stuff mislabeled as shoegaze, lo-fi beats you can study to. Music that sounds like warm water washing over you. Guitars that sound like they’re coming from the bathroom down the hall with the shower running. Lyrics that… kind of make sense… but are more interested in creating an atmosphere than telling a story.

They opened with “Shut You Down,” from their second, self-titled album. The first note they struck my vision went kind of sepia tone (was I dosed by this bagboy? Did I live some Go Ask Alice bullshit? unclear), and that is a good way to describe the quality of this song. It’s nostalgic, but didn’t really sound like anything from a bygone era in 2014. It’s sad but calm and non-confrontational. The vocals are quiet and plaintive. It’s really the perfect kind of music for someone who’s so high he thinks he’s going to die, or be arrested, or both, and that’s why I stayed for their whole set. I did bolt as soon as they were done though. Sorry Phosphorescent; what could have been…

Brad Walker - @bradurdaynightlive

Editor’s Note: I don’t know what this is, but it ain’t stoker rock. Take this shit back to the cave, man.

Binaural Beats - Marijuana High |THC Beat| *Purple Haze* Digital Drug

We’ve evolved past the need for labels 

Okay enough of that brick weed music that these Salvia-sucking posers are rambling about. You want the dank shit? That Ricky Stanicky-icky? Then take a lungbusting hit of Binaural Beats - Marijuana High |THC Beat| *Purple Haze* Digital Drug. Look, anyone can smoke THC-P Moon Rocks, get a headache, and throw on some Tame Impala – but real heads know that the best Stoner Rock is a series of 420 HZ frequencies that make your brain think that it smoked weed. Because the only thing cooler than smoking weed is smoking digital weed through your ears. So don’t vacuum your carpet for several months, then sit on the floor, close your blinds, and blast this shit so loud that the neighbors get a contact high. Become ungovernable/very difficult to get a hold of when your family reaches out to you. (Pro Tip: while THC binaural beats are safe on their own, they can be a gateway to more destructive hertz. Make sure you check your binaurals for any Fentanyl frequencies).

Joshua Sullivan - @brotherheavenz

Editor’s Note: This is fucked up.

Counting Crows – “Accidentally In Love (as featured on the Shrek 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”

Dreamworks Records

When I was asked to come up with my favorite Stoner Rock piece of music for 4/20 I was a bit puzzled. As someone who has basically no knowledge of the genre, I thought to myself, “Is it a specific genre? Or is it simply any music to get stoned to?” Amid my confusion, I made the very wise choice of taking to Spotify and scrolling through playlist after playlist, both created by Spotify and users with various titles, including the words “Stoner Rock.” As I was doing my research, I noticed that the song “Accidentally In Love” by Counting Crows was featured on one of these playlists, which begged the question, “Is the Shrek 2 Soundtrack considered Stoner Rock?” The thing to know about me, dear reader, is that I absolutely adore Shrek 2, along with its perfectly curated list of accompanying songs for the film. It is quite literally the film of a generation and its soundtrack is simply one of many aspects that solidify it in the upper echelon of family-oriented animated media. I mean, what’s not to love about Shrek 2? It was a staggering artistic improvement from the original, and its animation still holds up to this day! Not to mention, you have an uproarious cast of voice talent, including the incomparable Tony Banderas! What other movie are you going to find a trumpeted version of the Hawaii Five-0 theme song as well as a stirring cover of “Holding Out For A Hero”? There’s no other movie like that! And the soundtrack version is done by Frou Frou, are you kidding me?? I love Imogen Heap so much, and many people only know her from that meme from the OC, but like I’m telling you, what a discography. That album that “Hide and Seek” is on is just flawless! And she inspired Ariana Grande? Incredible. Anyway, I wasn’t huge on Shrek 3 and never really watched Shrek 4, it just didn’t really appeal to me, you know? Anyway, I can’t remember what I was saying, but I need to take a break from writing so I can watch Shrek 2. 

Ciara Rhiannon - @rhiannon_comma

Editor’s Note: Look, I love Shrek 2 (and its soundtrack) as much as the next 30-year-old, but just because some stoner added it to a playlist on Spotify does not mean it’s eligible for this roundup.

Brava Spectre - “The Lioness Eye Tamed My Open Palm”

Self-Released

Noise rock and stoner rock are the same thing, right? Anyway, I popped an edible before sitting down to write this, and I think it’ll probably kick in at some point in the next hour or so, ‘tis the season and all. Anyway, Brava Spectre were a band from New London, Connecticut, inspired by the likes of Arab on Radar, Free Jazz, and The Mars Volta (amongst a plethora of others). They burned incredibly bright and hot before sputtering out as the band dissolved and morphed into other projects, most notably the addition of guitarist Stephen K. Buttery to The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die’s permanent lineup. Brava Spectre’s debut album, The Hands, The Water, The Hands That Occupy the Water, has a super trippy name, and when you say it out loud, it kind of tastes like colorful grainy monochrome, but the music is abrasive, controlled to the point of spiraling out and snapping, containing some borderline haunting melodies as well as some of the most evil riffs you will ever hear. “The Lioness Eye Tamed My Open Palm” is a fucking crazy title, man, like I wonder if these guys, oh holy shit, I wonder if the music is changing my molecular structure in some way, I mean, I’ve heard of vibrational patterns that can cause cells to react in different ways including cell regeneration or duplication. That reminds me of the single electron theory, I mean, what if our complex cell structure is actually fundamentally made up of a single electron that we all share and I think that's kind of beautiful, too, even if it's like really spooky.

Elias - @letsgetpivotal

Editors Note: This was supposed to be like 300 words, but they wrote 1900, so I deleted the majority of it since they started rambling about the holographic universe or some weird shit like that.

Welcome To The Final Year of A Very Sufjan Christmas

The following is a  post from our sister site A Very Sufjan Christmas.
Follow us on Twitter at @SufjanChristmas or on Instagram at @SufjanChristmas to enjoy daily song write-ups this December!

---

As I write this, we stand on the precipice of what could very well be our final year of A Very Sufjan Christmas. 

When my friend Kyle Meyers and I first came up with the idea for this site back in 2018, it all started as a joke. A Sufjan Stevens Advent calendar, how novel! It was such a goofy idea, and so Sufjan. While my initial reaction was nothing more than a mere laugh, it quickly dawned on me that with 100 total songs at our disposal and 25 days on an advent calendar, we could conceivably write about every single Sufjan Christmas song over the course of four years. At that point, my reaction suddenly shifted from “that’s funny” to “we must do this.” I sprinted off to lock down usernames and a domain in our name, and the rest is history. 

That first year of the website almost felt like an exercise in finding out how Sufjan Stevens fans we knew. Over the years, we’ve sourced writers from places like /r/indieheads and /r/sufjan, as well as our personal Rolodexes of music nerd friends and random Twitter mutuals alike. In the second and third years, I ran this site by myself, sourcing 25 writers each year, editing every article, running all the social media, and keeping the Christmas spirit alive thanks to a constantly rotating crew of talented writers. 

As you would expect, many of the biggest songs within Sufjan’s Christmas oeuvre were covered in our first year. Then the remaining “most popular” songs were the next to go within the second year, and so on. We now find ourselves at the onset of the fourth year of this site, which means we are down to our final 25 songs. 

Over a four-year-long process of elimination, we now find ourselves whittled down to 25 of the weirdest, shortest, most obscure Sufjan Christmas songs. This is the island of misfit toys. The songs that have been passed over for three years. The songs that nobody wanted to write about until there was nothing left. That’s an interesting challenge — one that I’m sure will result in our most fascinating collection of write-ups yet. 

If this sounds like something that you’d be interested in participating in, please visit our writer application page here to toss your hat in the ring. Just be warned that the song you’re looking for probably isn’t there. 

On the Sufjan Front, this year our boy released a five-part two-and-a-half-hour electronic album as well as a fantastic collaborative concept album with labelmate Angelo De Augustine. He’s an unstoppable folk machine, and that’s why we love him.

Much like Mr. Steven’s discography, each year of this site has brought unique challenges and allowed us to tell different stories. I’ve run this site from three different states, and as a result, each year of a Very Sufjan Christmas feels hyper-distinct in my mind. It’s always easier to see those things in hindsight, but this project has been an exciting, tiring, inspiring tradition over the last few years, and I’m excited to finally “complete” it this year.

While I’m talking about exciting things, I’d also like to formally welcome Bethany Clancy and Wes Muilenburg to the Sufjan Christmas team. Bethany Clancy is a writer from Buffalo whose work you can find all over the music blog Unsigned Spotlight. Wes Muilenburg is a Minneapolis-based writer, primarily contributing to Ear Coffee, the blog and podcast that they co-founded in 2017. They also play in the band NATL PARK SRVC who released an excellent album earlier this year. They are both joining me this year as editors, and I can’t thank them enough for taking that weight off my shoulders. Aside from the help editing, having these two by my side checking over our submissions will be an absolute joy and will help ensure we finish out this project on a strong note. It’s probably obvious, but I couldn’t be happier to have them on board. 

So that’s where we’re at; three editors, a bunch of writers, and 25 of the weirdest Sufjan Christmas songs possible. It’s going to be a fun year, and I’m genuinely excited to share another holiday season with you all. 

Tiring and time-consuming as running this site may be, it’s one of the most rewarding parts of my holiday season, and I relish being able to share these stories with the world. As always, thank you for reading along, thank you for being here, and thank you for sharing your holiday spirit with us. We’ll see you all on December 1st. 

Love Taylor, Bethany, and Wes.

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine – A Beginner's Mind | Album Review

For better or worse, Sufjan Stevens’ lasting mark on pop culture may be his ill-fated 50 States Project. Whether catching random strays on Twitter, receiving post-mortem retrospectives via music blogs, or being spiritually revived by fans, it seems that the idea of each state receiving its own album-length dedication was too alluring of a conceptual hook for some to let go of. And I get it, just extrapolate the data; Illinois is an all-time classic indie album, and Michigan is one of my favorite records of all time. It’s easy to look at those two LPs and go, ‘man, I hope Sufjan writes an ornate 90-minute indie-folk album about my state.’ Maybe that’s why people can’t seem to move on; because it’s so personal, so potential-filled, and so hopelessly abandoned. 

Sure, Sufjan has enjoyed a relatively recent pop-cultural hit in “Mystery of Love” (with an Oscar appearance to boot), but as those Tweets and articles above prove, his 50 States PR stunt was an idea that appealed to music fans from all across the country for very obvious reasons. No matter how many hit songs or incredible albums Stevens makes, some music fans will forever be hung up on the 50-album pitch that he first staked his name on. 

The thing that bugs me about The 50 States Project being Sufjan’s primary cultural touchstone is because it misses the point of why those albums are great. If you take those releases at face value and simply view them as “records about states,” then Sufjan Stevens has already dipped his toes into similar conceptual waters. He’s written an album about every planet in the solar system, he’s recorded over 100 Christmas songs, he’s made a record about stories from the bible, and even created an entire multi-media project about a specific bridge in Brooklyn. If those don’t show commitment, then I don’t know what does. 

Obviously, these conceptual hooks might not have been broad or clever enough to garner that same level of mainstream attention. Sure, I enjoy them, but I am also a Sufjan freak. My point is that Sufjan Stevens has created albums with similar levels of conceptual commitment; it’s just that nothing has managed to break through in quite the same way as the 50 States Project did. That’s why, when Asthmatic Kitty announced A Beginners Mind, my interest was piqued. 

Unveiled as a collaborative project between Sufjan Stevens and labelmate Angelo De Augustine, A Beginner’s Mind is a concept album where each song is “(loosely) based off popular movies.” The album promised to run the filmic gamut from highbrow films to lowbrow popcorn flicks and everything in between. That sounds like some damn broad appeal there. 

The other half of this equation is the music itself. As mentioned above, both Michigan and Illinois are best-in-class indie records. As much as it pains me to admit, only a select few pieces of Sufjan’s oeuvre even get close to broaching the same level of quality, whether they had similarly ambitious concepts or not. Planetarium is fun, Seven Swans is stark, and BQE is charmingly earnest, but those records are far from universally appealing. Similarly, (as much as I adore them), it’s not outlandish to see why 100 Christmas songs wouldn’t appeal to everybody. But movies? Everyone loves movies!

When I clicked play on “Reach Out,” the album’s opening song and first of four singles, I was immediately struck with a sense of “Classic Sufjan,” for lack of a better term. Sure, he was flanked by a collaborator and confidante in Augustine, but it truly sounded folky as fuck, and that’s something I have been missing since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell. It’s not like Sufjan hasn’t been prolific over the last decade or so; in the time since his seventh studio album he’s scored a ballet, released a synth collaboration with his father-in-law, and even dropped a two-and-a-half-hour-long electronic piece earlier this year. Furthermore, 2020 saw the release of The Ascension, Sufjan’s first proper studio album in nearly five years, and while that record was good, it was more an extension of his electronic-tinged Age of Adz from a decade prior. What I’m saying is that those releases all felt like auxiliary additions and electronic diversions within the Sufjan Stevens Canon. It’s been over half a decade since we’ve heard anything like this from an artist whose greatest works are all firmly rooted in the trappings of folk music. 

Luckily that single wasn’t just a bait-and-switch; the album continues this folky trend while still edging into exciting new sonic territories. Both “Lady Macbeth In Chains” and “Back To Oz” are groovy early-album cuts that evoke visions of peak Fleetwood Mac or “Young Man’s Game” off of the most recent Fleet Foxes album. There are aching piano-led ballads, precise guitar plucks, and songs grounded by searching ambient swirls.

Lyrically, the device of using these famous films as jumping-off points allows for our singers to shift perspective at will, much like Sufjan did on those early States albums. Just as Michigan and Illinois would see Stevens placing himself in the shoes of a down-on-his-luck Yooper or a renowned serial killer, the songs on A Beginner’s Mind see our intrepid duo taking unique perspectives on stories that have already proven themselves to be compelling. Sometimes our musical guides sing from the point of view of a character directly from the film; other times, they analyze the cinematic events of a given movie from an omnipotent distance.

In almost every case, as a listener, it’s fascinating to put the pieces together and see how Stevens and Augustine use these ideas from a completely different medium as artistic inspiration. Regardless of the source film or your familiarity with it, these songs are written in a way that makes you relate to their plight either by linking it to something universal or through sheer force of empathy. For example, in “You Give Death A Bad Name,” the duo use Night of the Living Dead as a way to discuss climate change, the failings of a capitalistic society, and general disillusionment with America. These are all topics that Sufjan thoroughly delved into nearly two decades ago within the States Projects and as recently as songs like “America” off The Ascension from last year. They’re ongoing evolutions of thoughts on the same subjects, just cast in a different light.

Elsewhere on the album, the two touch on themes of religion, death, and general existential dread, all tried-and-true topics for both artists. Sometimes they work the title of the movie into the chorus of a song like the aforementioned “Back to Oz” or “It’s Your Own Body And Mind,” where they delicately croon “she’s gotta have it” over a series of gentle acoustic guitar strums. 

“Olympus,” another early single, uses Clash of the Titans as inspiration to paint a scene not of mythical claymation monsters but genuine human connection. The song’s outro deploys a poetic lyrical alternation to hone in on hyper-specific details that quickly work their way up to cosmic forms of adoration.

There’s something
And it’s the light on your hand
There’s something
And it’s the touch of my wristband
There’s one thing
And it’s the weight of our wish
There’s one thing
And it’s our very first kiss

Songs also contain quotable one-off barbs that all land at different times, depending on how close you listen. Minutes before the above quote in the same Clash of the Titans-themed song, Sufjan asks himself, “​​am I at rest, or resigned in my chaos?” Quite a deep and existential line for a song based on a 40-year-old fantasy adventure movie.

Outside of the music and lyrics, these songs are all wrapped in gorgeous art courtesy of Daniel Anum Jasper as seen throughout this article. Jasper is a Ghanaian artist famous for his work in the 80s in “mobile cinema” culture. This phenomenon first emerged when enterprising film fans screened Hollywood blockbusters in the backs of pick-up trucks using portable generators. Ghanaian artists painted alternate posters to advertise the movies, inspired only by the scant information they had about each film. Within Asthmatic Kitty’s press release, the label explains this choice with poignant and concise rationale:

By transforming old films into vital new songs with new imagery, Stevens and De Augustine ask us to consider ourselves (and the world around us) from a previously unconsidered vantage point—a new way of seeing and hearing—an exercise that’s as necessary and relevant now as it’s ever been. 

And therein lies the true appeal of Sufjan’s most remarkable work, whether it’s weaving tales of snow-covered life in the midwest, the bleeps and bloops of an alien planet, the stark emptiness of loss, or the portrayal of Pinhead in Hellraiser III. As listeners, we haven’t always experienced those things firsthand, but that doesn’t make them any less relatable. In fact, when presented in the right way, even the most far-off places and unknowable concepts can feel surprisingly easy to understand. 

So, given all these options, why would you ever want an album penned about your hometown? Just to hear familiar nouns rendered in song form? I’d argue it’s more exciting, fulfilling, and rewarding to visit these distant landscapes and imagined perspectives because they are so opposite of our day-to-day life. These songs give us entire worlds to escape into, even if just for a few minutes at a time. It’s an exercise in empathy, but it also ladders up to some greater understanding of the universe. The concepts of grief, love, longing, and loss are practically too big for words, but maybe if you look at them from enough perspectives, you begin to see pieces of the bigger picture. 

The Best of September 2021

A little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of folk, and the sounds of a bygone social media platform make up the best releases of September. 

Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix

Self-released

Looking at the discussion surrounding the new Injury Reserve album results in a fascinating combination of words; intense, terrifying, unique, tremendous, visceral, and raw. Overall, the most consistent sentiment about the album is “this is unlike anything I’ve ever heard in my life,” and that’s a fair assessment. After losing their friend and bandmate Stepa J. Groggs in 2020, By the Time I Get to Phoenix sees what’s left of Injury Reserve grappling with their grief in a public, album-length forum. The record is stuttery, disorienting, and heavy; all valid encapsulations of sorrow from a group who has lost someone close enough to be considered family. 

Eichlers - OHMYGOD

Self-released

I usually don’t write about singles in these roundups, but “OHMYGOD” is simply that good. Additionally, this article is the September new music roundup, but this song was technically released on the last day of August, so basically I’m breaking rules left and right just so I can write about how rad Eichlers is. Here’s the one-word pitch: Hyperska. That term is precisely what it sounds like; a bubbly mixture of hyperpop and ska music, both genres which have been surging in popularity over the last few years. Eichlers combines these two disparate sounds to great effect over the course of this two-minute banger. The vocals convey a sort of “what the fuck” relatability over a blink-182 guitar tone and electronic drums. Thirty seconds in and a series of upstrokes lead to a hyperpop build that sounds like Dylan Brady’s long-lost brother made it. It’s pretty much everything I love in one place.

Dormer. - Dormer.

Lossleader Records

Since I’m already breaking self-imposed rules, I’m also going to use this space to write about the excellent self-titled record from Dormer, which was released at the tail end of August. Dormer is the solo project of Charlie Berger, who is also a member of the shoegaze band Slowly and the dark dreampop band With Hidden Noise. Berger self-describes the project as “slowcore-inspired… sounds maybe like if Duster, Shipping News, early Death Cab, and slower Pedro The Lion songs had a baby… then that baby went on to make low-key music that very people listened to.” If that self-effacing pastiche of cuffed-up 90s indie rock doesn’t sell you, then I don’t know what will. Dormer. is a winding and listless album in the best way possible. The songs transfix and unfurl over three- and four-minute stretches that never wear out their welcome but all work towards constructing a singular, mystifying world. 

Sincere Engineer - Bless My Psyche

Hopeless Records

Deanna Belos initially rose to prominence within the Chicago music scene as a solo acoustic act. After years of house shows and bar gigs, she released Rhombithian in 2017, and Sincere Engineer unveiled itself to the broader music world as a fully formed band worthy of nothing less than absolute adoration. Buoyed by Belos’ unmistakable one-of-a-kind voice, the project weaved relatable tales of alcohol dependency, corndog dinners, and general fuck-upery. Each song dripped with hooks and catchy guitar. The lyrics were an unabashed portrayal of snow-covered life in Chicago that felt like a direct accompaniment to Retirement Party’s Somewhat Literate. Four years later, Sincere Engineer has solidified into a consistent lineup, and the group’s sophomore album takes all of those winning elements from their debut and re-formulates them into something totally standalone. Marginally less punky than their last LP, Bless My Psyche uses a fresh range of sounds as the backdrop for these ultra-relatable tales. Even if seven of the album’s eleven songs were released as singles in the lead-up to its release, it’s just a joy to have another 30 minutes to spend in Belos’ presence, wallowing in your screw-ups together. 

5ever - Forever

Many Hats Distribution

Do you remember MySpace? Remember getting random friend requests from bands spamming your account trying to convert you into a fan? What about the garish neon-covered HTML pages? Can you picture the endless sea of identical swoopy haircuts and Devil Wears Prada wannabes? Well, 5ever remembers. Not only do the Boston-based rockers remember, but they’re here to salvage the best parts of that era and revive them into something new. With a name based on a decade-old copypasta and song titles like “H.A.G.S,” it’s clear that the band knows their audience here. Lead single “Champagne” is a perfect introductory crash course to the shimmering bubblegum-flavored pop-punk sounds of the EP. These pop sensibilities eventually fold in on themselves, mounting in post-hardcore sentiments on “KACHING!” Forever manages to salvage some of the most admirable bits of artistry from an (arguably) dark era in music, making for an 18-minute time capsule that’s as potent as a scented gel pen. 

Common Sage - It Lives and It Breathes

No Sleep Records

Last year Common Sage released the abstrusely-titled Might as Well Eat the Chicken, We Won't Be Here in the Morning. If I’m being honest, it felt like pretty standard emo fare, but the EP must have done something right because in the time since it’s release, the group has signed to No Sleep Records and is now hitting back with the phenomenal It Live and It Breathes. Easing up on the emo roughage, the group’s sophomore effort melds the dynamic scale of TWIABP with the ultra-distressed 90s-tinged approach of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate. Songs grow and contract into sprawling epics of overwrought feelings and whiplash from lazy Sunday country to fist-balling punk at a moment’s notice. The instrumentals fit together nicely, coming across as rounded off and more approachable than the group’s previous work. Basically, everything fits together wonderfully, resulting in what is sure to be one of the most slept-on emo-adjacent releases of the year. 

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind

Asthmatic Kitty Records

There are no two ways about it; I’m a Sufjan Boy. I literally run an entire separate blog dedicated solely to the man’s Christmas Music. While it sometimes feels as if I am legally obligated to consume everything he creates, that doesn’t mean I love it all. Occasionally, Sufjan gets too electronic or too meandering for my taste, but I’m always eager to see what he does next. A Beginner’s Mind sees my folk daddy teaming up with labelmate Angelo De Augustine for a collaborative concept album where each song is based on a different movie. Sometimes our singers place themselves in the shoes of a character; other times, they analyze the filmic events from an omnipotent distance. This leads to a Planetarium-level of commitment to conceptuality where the tales are allowed to be a little more personal and way less cosmic. This narrative thrust combined with the throwback to a more somber Seven Swans era of “Sadboy Indie Folk” results in what is easily my favorite Sufjan release since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell. 

Shortly - Dancer

Triple Crown Records

When I first saw Shortly in 2018, the band was just Alexandria Maniak standing alone on a stage with a guitar and a mic. She was first-up opening for Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties, and the crowd was rapt. I emerged from that set a die-hard Shortly fan but was disappointed to find she only had two publicly-released songs at the time. In the years since, Maniak has rounded out the project with a talented band, released an EP titled Richmond, and played probably more gigs than any rational person could keep track of. Dancer, Shortly’s debut full-length on Triple Crown Records, is a synthesis of everything learned along the way. It’s an album-length journey into the hard feelings, unique relationships, and unforgettable people that make life worth pushing through. 

Quick Hits

If you’re looking for even more thoughts on the past month of music, we also published full reviews for the new albums from Jail Socks, Big Vic, and Colleen Green. We also wrote about the incredible new single from Greet Death. Finally, here’s a playlist of my favorite song off of every new release (and single) I listened to during the month of September. 

The 2020 Diamond Platters: Swim Into The Sound’s Ancillary End of the Year Awards

Welp, it’s that time of the year again. Not the holidays, not Christmas, not Hanukkah, but List Season. Yes folks, it’s that wonderful time of the year where every other mainstream music publication stumbles over themselves to write compelling one-paragraph write-ups on the same 50 albums as every other blog.

Vindictive as I sound, I do have a strange affinity for List Season. I’m always curious to see what the critical consensus is and where my favorites rank among the lists (if at all), yet there’s something so off about the whole thing. A 3-page listicle of 50 different one-paragraph album write-ups has never felt indicative of the year. Sure, you can revisit the big hits, the 10 out of 10s, and the cultural touchstones, but the format itself is limited. A simple countdown doesn’t do the year justice. Where are the EPs and splits? Where are the weird headlines? Where are the cover songs? Where are the other formative musical events of the year that don’t fit into the album format? That’s why I created The Diamond Platters. 

Intentionally named to be as gaudy and opulent as possible, these awards are the highest honor that I, a music blog with impeccable taste, can possibly bestow upon an artist. Music sales, popularity, playing to swaths of adoring fans, those should all come second, because if you made it on this list, then you made it baby. 

Tongue-in-cheek sarcasm aside, this tradition began four years ago and was so well-received that I just had to do it again in 2018. That second iteration was less-well-received, but I thought ‘analytics be damned!’ and did it again in 2019 to relative success. These awards began as a way for me to circumvent publishing “just another” end of the year list. This is a look at the past 365 days in music through a unique (and sometimes hyper-specific) lens. These awards allow me to draw attention to the creations that may not get discussed on a typical publication’s end of the year list. Most importantly, it’s a way to celebrate the year in music without pitting artists against each other. Unique categories for the unique music listener, because not everything fits into a list of 50.

---

Best Acoustic Reimagining

Winner: The Wonder Years “Hoodie Weather”
Over the course of the last decade, The Wonder Years have become a stalwart of the pop-punk scene. The band has aged gracefully into each iteration of their career, gradually shifting from energetic teenage goofiness to post-college listlessness and, more recently, morbid pathos. This year, the band released the second iteration in their Burst & Decay series, allowing them to revisit their old songs and update them in a way that feels more true to where the band members are today. The group’s acoustic reimagining of 2011’s “Hoodie Weather” merges these worlds together, taking a song about the restless touring of their early 20’s and rendering it in a pensive, more idyllic light. This rendition of the track retains the sentiment at the core of the original and feels like an update that looks back on the events with reverence provided by the distance of time. It’s a revisitation, but also an update. In a way, this feels like the way the song was always meant to be heard. It’s proof that the band still has more to say, even if it’s just saying it differently.

Runner-up: Future Teens “Swiped Out”
Future teens have always straddled the line between “emo band” and something more profound. They have achieved success by using many of the same struggles and stylistic choices as your average emo group but have managed to present them in a more mature way. With their Sensitive Sessions EP, the group revisited four songs from last year’s Breakup Season and somehow managed to make them even sadder. Hell, the band even managed to make Smash Mouth sound sad, so at this point, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing they can’t do. 

Best Album Art

Winner: Vile Creature - Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
For an album that I’ve only listened to one time, the cover to Vile Creature’s Glory, Glory! Has stuck with me more than any other release this year. Capturing the heaviness and beauty at the heart of this sludgy release, this album art is simultaneously gorgeous and disturbing to look at. The cover both sticks with you and accurately indicates the exact kind of songs you’re about to take in. When flipping through vinyl at a record store, this cover is enough to stop any music fan in their tracks, and that means it’s a success on every level. 

Runner-up: Niiice. - Internet Friends
Looking at the cover for Internet Friends, you might wonder who some of these people are, but if you’re a part of the emo DIY circuit on Twitter, then you’d quickly recognize a majority of these faces. From Origami Angel to Stars Hollow and Short Fictions, this cover is a veritable Avengers Endgame of 5th wave emo. This means you can spend a majority of the album’s runtime combing over the front and back of the vinyl scanning for easter eggs while taking in songs about weed and depression, essentially the ideal way to spend an evening in 2020. 

I Miss Shows: Award For Best Live Album

Winner: Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties - Live From Asbury Park
It probably goes without saying, but concerts were fucked this year, and that meant we had to rely on livestreams and live albums to fill that void. I was fortunate enough to catch a grand total of 6 shows in the two and a half months of 2020 that things were still open. Halfway through the year, Dan Campbell (aka Aaron West) released Live From Asbury Park, a one-hour album capturing two sold-out nights of energetic, folksy, Springsteen-inspired performances from the tail end of 2019. This record is everything a live album should be. There’s crowd interaction, jaw-dropping high notes, and gorgeous brass instrumentation. On top of all this, the live rendition of “Divorce and the American South” is one of the only songs to make me cry outright this year, so this record is worth checking out for that fact alone. 

Runner-up: Bon Iver - Blood Bank (10th Anniversary Edition)
I’m a longtime Bon Iver guy and seeing Justin Vernon treat the tenth anniversary of Blood Bank with such reverence warmed my heart. It’s not exactly a sizable release in the band’s discography, but still a memorable stopgap after the breakthrough success of For Emma, Forever Ago. Even though the EP’s tenth-anniversary release is essentially just the original EP plus a collection of four live tracks, the selection of songs taken from different locations across their 2018 tour makes it feel like a lot of time and thought was put into its presentation. Having (finally) seen the group in concert back in 2019, I can say that the selections on this release do an excellent job of bottling up the raw emotional power of these songs when rendered live on-stage. 

Best Sequenced Album

Winner: Ratboys - Printer’s Devil
Longtime readers know that I’m a diehard supporter of short albums. I’m already a big believer in ‘less is more,’ but the longer an album is, the more opportunities there are for lulls and rough patches. While it may or may not end up on my album of the year list in a few weeks, there’s no denying that Ratboy’s third album is an immaculately-crafted work. It’s perfectly paced with peppy, upbeat tracks opening each side, long wistful passages right when they’re needed, and a wonderfully pensive closing track. In other words, this is a masterfully-structured release that hits all the right beats at all the right times. 

Runner-up: 100 Gecs - 100 Gecs and the Tree of Clues
Nine times out of ten, you could hand me a remix album and I’d throw it straight in the trash. Even for bands that I love, all a remix typically makes me want to do is stop listening to it and go turn on the original. There are some rare examples where a remix can elevate the original or cast it in a new light, but on 100 Gecs and the Tree of Clues, pretty much everything and the kitchen sink is included, yet somehow everything works. Essentially an album-length victory lap for the breakthrough hyperpop act, Tree of Clues sees the duo turning their eclectic 2019 album over to a host of collaborators and conspirators. These guests create ecstasy-fueled EDM bangers, hash noise rock assaults, and everything in between. Every song is different from the ones that came before it, which means there’s never a dull moment.

Remix of the Year

Winner: 100 gecs “ringtone remix featuring Charli XCX, Kero Kero Bonito, and Rico Nasty”
When 100 gecs dropped their ringtone remix at the beginning of the year, I’d never experienced anything quite like it. The mix of Charli XCX’s PC Music pop, the brash bars provided by Rico Nasty, and the kawaii interlude courtesy of Kero Kero Bonito proved to be an intoxicating mixture that felt like falling in love. This remix takes an already great track and re-infuses it with that feeling of meeting someone you’ve fallen head over heels for. A powerful emotion to have bottled up in a three-and-a-half-minute song.

Runner-up: Origami Angel - Origami Angel Broke Minecraft
Once we all collectively realized that gigs weren’t happening this year, Origami Angel did the only logical thing and released a Minecraft-themed remix of their greatest hits for a livestreamed concert taking place in the same game. Despite the complicated and meme-like origins surrounding its release, I’ll never say no to new Gami, much less Gami with Lil John drops.

Best Hiking Album

Winner: Cory Wong - Trail Songs Dusk/Dawn 
On top of releasing one album with Vulfpeck and an album with the Fearless Flyers, Cory Wong also somehow found time to release a solo album in January, a live album, a jazzy piano record, a second two-part live album, and another solo album. On top of all this, he also managed to release a conceptual double EP at the peak of summer that (literally) walks the listener through two different halves of a hiking trip. The first release focuses on the sunny hike up the trail, while the second release captures the starry night spent around the campfire. As someone who got into hiking this year, I can’t articulate how beautifully Wong manages to capture the feeling of boundless exploration and wonder that one experiences on their way up a trail, as well as the sense of satisfied triumph you feel on your way back down. It’s a beautiful breath of fresh air that I can’t wait to revisit all winter long.

Runner-up: Empty Country - Empty Country
Empty Country’s self-titled release is an arid, jangly album that walks the line between emo, indie rock, and even a touch of heartland Americana. Much like Wild Pink, this is a band that fuses all of these sounds together into something fresh and accessible. Listening to Empty Country feels comparable to a lackadaisical stroll through a field, or the view from the top of a hill. 

Best Interpolation

Winner: Dance Gavin Dance “Born To Fail” (Interpolating Tides of Man)
When I first heard “Born To Fail,” I was digging it. Then, when I heard Tilian quoting my favorite Tides of Man song a full decade after he first sang it, the song officially blew my mind. It never even occurred to me that a band was even ALLOWED to do this, but like everything else that Dance Gavin Dance does, they made it sound great.

Runner-up: Gleemer “TTX” (Interpolating Lesley Gore)
While the interpolation on “Born To Fail” is fantastic because of the reference track's mind-bending context, Gleemer's “TTX” is noteworthy for an entirely different reason. Here, the band interpolates Lesley Gore's “It’s My Party” and integrates it so seamlessly that the lyrics sound completely organic.

Best Music Video

Winner: Rico Nasty “Own It”
Every frame of this video is art. From the bikini-clad Hellraiser look to the babushka-adorned champagne tea party, “Own It” truly feels like Rico Nasty in her element. There are bright colors, triple-take costume designs, and animated in-your-face movements that come across as equal parts boisterous and calculated—a perfect, disorienting crash course into the world of Rico Nasty. 

Runner-up: Dogleg “Wartortle”
This seems like a safe place to admit that Clerks blew my mind when I first saw it in college. Not even a casual “blew my mind and liked it,” but an “I need to go sit by myself and think about that movie because it spoke to something that deep within me.” I’m a little embarrassed by that fact six-ish years down the line, but seeing Dogleg’s faithful recreation of the Kevin Smith classic in the music video for “Wartortle” made me feel a little bit better about my regrettably deep-rooted connection.

Best Music-Related Game of the Year

Winner: Dikembe: The Video Game
I’ll admit this category was not entirely my idea but came from Dikembe themselves jokingly suggesting it on Twitter. Despite the artificial creation of this award, this is precisely what the Diamond Platters were made for. After all, how many other DIY bands have the brains big enough to promote their upcoming record with a platformer? Just one, and it was Dikembe.

Runner-up: Get To The Gig: The Chillwavve Records Video Game
In a similar vein, Get To The Gig from Chillwavve Records is a throwback RPG that finds its hero fulfilling the title’s promise and meeting a roster of DIY emo icons along the way. If that wasn’t enough, the “leaked” song at the end of the game made the entire journey feel worth it. Eat your heart out, Travis Scott Fortnite performance. 

Best Guest Feature

Winner: Uwade Akhere on Shore
I may not have liked Fleet Foxes’ fourth studio album, but Uwade Akhere’s contributions are undeniably the record’s high points. In fact, the band places a lot of weight on her shoulders for an unknown talent. From opening and closing the album to contributing gorgeous melodies to the album’s best cut, it’s painful to imagine what Shore would have been without her.

Runner-up: Morgan Freeman on Savage Mode II
Morgan Freeman’s dulcet tones are pretty much the last thing you’d expect to hear when clicking play on the newest 21 Savage mixtape, yet on the sequel to 2017’s Savage Mode, they somehow manage to fit perfectly. From welcoming the listener to the album, giving a detailed explanation on the difference between ‘snitches’ and ‘rats,’ to closing the tape out with a reminder to “stay in savage mode,” it’s fair to say this release wouldn’t have been the same without him.

Best Cover Song

Winner: Phoebe Bridgers & Maggie Rogers “Iris”
2020 was a banner year for Phoebe Bridgers; she released her sophomore album to critical acclaim and (relative) enthusiasm from long-time fans. She earned a slew of Grammy nominations, performed at Red Rocks, released her annual Christmas song, and had a seemingly never-ending barrage of attention-grabbing interviews. The arguable peak of Phoebe-dom happened when, during a particularly bleak moment on Election Day, she tweeted, “if trump loses I will cover iris by the goo goo dolls.” Not only did Trump end up losing, but Phoebe stuck to her word, releasing the song for only 24 hours on Bandcamp with all proceeds going to Fair Fight, an organization dedicated to fighting for free and fair elections. On top of all this, both Bridgers and Rogers earned their first Billboard Hot 100 with this cover based solely off of Bandcamp Purchases alone. The song itself is an absolutely gorgeous and heartfelt rendition of the late-90s radio banger, a genre of music I’ve found myself increasingly unironically drawn to over the course of quarantine. If anything, Phoebe’s version of the song only further solidified my belief in the earnest beauty that lies at the heart of corny songs from my childhood. 

Runner-up: Pelafina “Cardigan”
I’ll be honest. I have no idea how I stumbled across Pelafina, let alone became a follower of theirs on Bandcamp, but when I got an email announcing their Taylor Swift covers, I bought them without hesitation. TS finds the band revisiting two recent Swift hits, “Cardigan” and “Cruel Summer,” both of which the band casts in a new and loving light that’s both faithful to the source material while retaining their style as a band, exactly what a good cover should be. 

Headline of the Year

Winner: “Scooby-Doo Is Going on Tour With Björk's Costume Designer”
The fact that 2020 robbed us of this experience is nothing short of a national tragedy. 

Runner-up: “Sex Pistols star Johnny Rotten bitten by a flea on his penis after rescuing squirrels”
Look, if I had to read this, y’all do too.

Porch Beer Album of the Year

Winner: Routine - And Other Things
Porch Beers, a term coined by me and popularized with my two-follower Spotify playlist, is a subgenre of music characterized by jangly guitars, lackadaisical lyricism, and relaxed rhythm sections. It’s country-tinged indie rock that pairs flawlessly with a porch and a pink sky on a summer evening, and there wasn’t a release this year that captured that feeling better than And Other Things. Surprise announced in the last quarter of the year, this 17-minute EP brings together partners Melina Duterte of Jay Som and Annie Truscott of Chastity Belt for a collection of songs that feels as fulfilling as a full-length. As you’d expect from such a short release, the two waste no time jumping straight into it with “Candy Road” which sparkles like desert sand in the midday sun. The titular “And Other Things” is a masterwork of revelatory reverb. Meanwhile, “Calm and Collected” sends things off perfectly with an extended instrumental stretch that leaves just enough room for reflection while you queue the record up again and grab another beer. 

Runner-up: Kevin Morby - Sundowner
With songs like “Valley,” “Campfire,” and of course the titular “Sundowner,” Kevin Morby’s sixth studio album feels tailor-made for porch beers or long, reflective drives home. It’s laid-back, countrified, fresh air music that practically begs you to crack open a cold one, inhale some fresh air, and appreciate your surroundings.

Best Gothic Country Album

Winner: Holy Motors - Horse
If someone were to ask me what Gothic Country is, I would simply show them the cover art for songs like Holy Motors’ “Country Church” and “Endless Night,” then I’d hit play on the band’s excellent sophomore album. 

Runner-up: BAMBARA - Stray
Swirling together a mesmerizing blend of gothic country and post-punk, Bambara’s Shadow On Everything was a dark horse entry in my 2018 Album of the Year list. Two years later, they’ve continued to develop that sound into a new release that’s haunting, unsettling, groovy, and even singable at times. 

Favorite Longform Piece I Wrote This Year

Winner: The Stark Maximalism of Sufjan Stevens
Spoiler alert: sometimes I use these awards to re-promote some of my old articles. While it may seem like insular self-promotion, what better time than the end of the year to look back on some of my favorite pieces of writing? Literally the first article I published this calendar year, my retrospective on Sufjan’s Carrie & Lowell was a long time coming. Bringing together years of listening history, a live album, and a B-sides collection, I felt like I finally said everything I’d spent five years ruminating on. Not only that, I feel like I was able to articulate myself completely and beautifully, which is one of the most satisfying experiences as a writer. 

Runner-up: An Introduction To Post-Rock
Post-rock is a genre that’s gotten me through a lot of tough times. It’s scored countless hours of reading, writing, and creating for me. It’s a pretty specific but deep genre, which means it’s infinitely rewarding to get into. In this piece, I did my best to put the wordless power of the genre into several paragraphs, a task that proved to be both rewarding and herculean. Intended to serve as an entry point for someone new to post-rock, this post takes nine of genre’s best records and explains the differences between each so someone can jump in with an album that’s up their alley stylistically then (ideally) journey in deeper from there. 

Y’all Sleep: Most Overlooked and Underappreciated Release of the Year 

Winner: Marble Teeth - Park
Do you like Slaughter Beach, Dog? What about Oso Oso? How Do you feel about Field Medic? If you responded positively to any of the above questions, then what are you waiting for? Press play on Marble Teeth’s Park immediately. While Cars weaved minute-long stories of high school football players, paranoid Pop-Tart connoisseurs, and lifelong love, Park ventures into more polished and personable territory. While Cars centered around acoustic guitar licks and simplistic electronic beats, Park favors a full(er) band approach that strikes at the heart of midwest mediocrity. Still centered around Caleb Jefson’s astute observations of the human condition, these songs sway forward in the most approachable and unexpected ways. There’s nothing quite like reveling in the world of awkward relationships, midnight dances, and Connecticut rest stops depicted in Park. This is a superb and lived-in release that is more creative, wondrous, and well-observed than almost anything I’ve listened to this year.

Runner-up: Fixer - Married
Portland, Oregon doesn't have much of a music scene because if there was any justice in this world, then Fixer’s sophomore album would have roughly one million streams by now. A lowkey indie rock release from the beginning of quarantine, this record is catchy, groovy, and immaculately produced. A literal shame that more people haven’t dug into these songs because this 25-minute release is worth its weight in gold. 

Best “Making Of” Documentary

Winner: Glass Beach - the making of the first glass beach album
Have 90 minutes to kill and don’t feel like watching a movie? Well, it’s hard to beat the making of the first glass beach album. The perfect introduction to the emo-ish prog-ish indie-ish band, this feature-length documentary is up for free on Youtube and details (as you would expect) the creation of the band’s titular first album. It’s fun, it’s funky, it’s a journey. 

Runner-up: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Ratty
Have another 30 minutes to kill? Well, Ratty is a documentary from genre-agnostic Aussie rockers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. This mini-movie details the creation of their thrash metal masterpiece Infest The Rats Nest, which wound up on our 2019 Album of the Year List. For a band as entertaining and musically diverse as King Gizz, this doc is a great peek behind the curtain into the psych rocker’s creative process. 

Best Cover Song Part II: Electric Boogaloo

Winner: The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die “In Circles”
The World Is A Beautiful Place are emo legends. Sunny Day Real Estate are emo legends. It would only make sense that the two should meet at some point, and this cover bridges the gap between emo generations like nothing before. It shouldn’t be surprising that TWIABP does “In Circles” such justice, but they also manage to put their own spin on it that feels distinctly modern. It’s gorgeous and honestly just makes me want a full album of Sunny Day Real Estate covers. 

Runner-up: Dogleg & Worst Party Ever - go ep
It started, as many things do, with a tweet. Late November, Michigan punk band Dogleg pitted a fight against Florida emo rockers Worst Party Ever. Accusations were made, shots were fired, the gauntlet was thrown. This jokingly playful beef culminated in the two bands exchanging covers, all of which were collected in a split that warms my emo heart.

Most Triggering High School Metalcore Phase Flashbacks

Winner: Mikau - Phantoma
This year I stumbled across a vinyl copy of The Word Alive’s debut EP Empire at a local record shop. I’m pretty sure I audibly gasped and quickly threw down however much money allowed me to leave the store with the record in-hand. If that reaction makes sense to you, then Mikau’s Phantoma is likely to spark that same corner of your latent 2010’s Hot Topic brain as it did me. There are chuggy riffs, crabcore breakdowns, and synthy interludes. In short, this is the type of band who would have signed to Rise Records in 2011 and raked in money by the thousands every summer at Warped Tour. Instead, we’re lucky enough to have them in 2020, where they can be appreciated for the nostalgic, lost art form that they really are. 

Runner-up: If I Die First - My Poison Arms
When I first stumbled across If I Die First on Spotify, I didn’t even know what genre they were. When I clicked play on My Poison Arms and was greeted electronicore in the vein of This Romantic Tragedy, I was immediately smitten. This EP would have fit in perfectly on my iPod Classic circa 2009, so I am legally obligated to love it with every molecule in my latent metalcore-loving heart.

Song of the Summer

Winner: Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion “WAP”
Let’s just get it out of the way; “WAP” is a great song. The track is catchy, dirty, and sexually-liberating, which is all well and good, but what strikes me most about this cartoonishly horny hip-hop cut is the fact that it managed to be so pervasive despite a nationwide shutdown. I know there were (unfortunately) still people out partying this summer, but this song’s ability to spread through TikTok, Twitter, and various other social media is what really cemented it as an artistic achievement in the face of a distinctly non-WAP summer. 

Runner-up: Dababy & Roddy Ricch “Rockstar”
I know it was a quarantined summer, and having a hit song during this time feels like it comes with a giant asterisk. However, if your song managed to make its way to me (an uncool white guy in his late-20s), I can only assume it’s reached a level of cultural pervasiveness that is worthy of praise. 

Favorite Review I Wrote This Year

Winner: Young Jesus - Welcome To Conceptual Beach
More shameless self-promo, this time in review form! While those earlier articles were longer-form pieces, my review for Young Jesus’ phenomenal fifth album is short, pointed, and poured out of me in one writing session. Sometimes the most challenging part of writing a review is just figuring out your way in. Young Jesus provided so many different ways in on their latest record, the problem became figuring out which one to pursue. Luckily, I feel like I did the album justice and spoke articulately to the statement that it’s making. 

Runner-up: Sinai Vessel - Ground Aswim
Much like my Young Jesus review, my review for Ground Aswim poured out of me over the course of one impassioned afternoon that I spent with the record. Also, much like the Young Jesus album, Sinai Vessel’s sophomore effort is a measured, precious, and relaxing album with a statement to make coming at a prescient time. 

Best Cover Song Part III: Return of the King

Winner: Lucy Dacus “Lips of an Angel”
Apologies for three identical categories, but we got lots of great covers this year, and I want to talk about “Lips of an Angel.” Originally by the American rock band Hinder, “Lips of an Angel” arrived upon our earth in 2005 and is arguably the toxic masculinity anthem. There’s cheating, gaslighting, pleading, and everything else you’d expect to hear while listening to a shitty dude talk to his ex on the phone. Lucy Dacus takes the band’s cringy lyricism and re-frames it from a distinctly femme perspective that de-fangs the negativity and replaces it with a layer of deeply-felt beauty. 

Runner-up: SASAMI “Toxicity”
If you were to sit me down and just start connecting random artists to songs they’ve covered, I would never, ever, in a million years, have connected indie rocker SASAMI to System of A Down. I suppose given the band’s semi-ubiquitous prevalence throughout the early to mid-2000s, it’s unsurprising that an artist currently in her late-20s would have an intimate familiarity with the nu-metal group. What’s impressive is not only how incredible her cover sounds, but how drastically different it is from the original. Proof that a good song is a good song no matter what, and a good artist can always take a good song and make it sound even better. 

Greatest Addition to the Christmas Canon

Winner: 100 gecs “sympathy 4 the grinch”
Back at the beginning of December, I mindlessly liked this tweet from 100 gecs and never gave it a second thought. It had never occurred to me that the hyperpop duo even could release a Christmas song. That was simply too awesome a combination of my tastes and interests to exist in 2020. We didn’t deserve it as a society. When the gecs dropped “sympathy 4 the grinch” less than 24 hours later, I was shook to my core. The perfect Christmas song. Finally. 

Runner-up: girl in red “two queens in a king sized bed”
As a man, I feel unilaterally unqualified to speak on the queerness of “two queens in a king sized bed.” What I will speak on however, is how beautiful, soft, and caring this song is. Pairing a piano with faint jingle bells and a pulsating drum build, this song is as loving, caring, and gorgeous as you’d want your lover to be. It’s gay as hell and Christmassy as fuck; what’s not to like? 

Most Impactful Beat Drop

Winner: Beach Bunny “Rearview”
Complete candor: this song was neck-and-neck in the running for my song of the year, but just barely got overtaken in the homestretch. That said, it’s still one of my favorites of the year, and this list would have felt utterly incomplete without its inclusion. “Rearview” is a mid-album cut off Beach Bunny’s fantastic debut album. It begins simply enough; a gentle guitar paired with Lili Trifilio’s confessional vocals. As she pines for her unrequited love over the guitar, her strums gradually pick up energy, morphing into a more-pointed riff. In the last minute of the song, she lands on the track’s namesake and pauses for a moment, then proceeds to sing a simple rhyme over a cool bassline. “You love me, I love you / You don't love me anymore, I still do. I'm sorry, I'm trying / I hate it when you catch me crying” As these words emerge from her lips, a whirl of feedback tears through the track along with two drum hits that make way for the rest of the band. From there, the group introduces a towering riff that makes the listener feel like a speck of dust in their all-encompassing emotional oasis. It’s goosebump-inducing and possibly my single favorite moment in any song this entire year. 

Runner-up: Soccer Mommy “Gray Light”
Sophie Allison knows how to end an album. From the quiet “Switzerland” to the confessional and forlorn “Waiting For Cars,” this fact has been clear from the very outset of her career. But two is a coincidence, three is a pattern. Allison ends Clean with the soul-decimating “Wildflowers” which works its way up from a solitary acoustic guitar to an ascending electronic whir that feels like every emotion you’ve ever had lifting you up into the air like an alien tractor beam. “gray light” accomplishes a similar effect, winding up from a slow soul-crushing spacey electronic bed into a weird reversed electronic “snap” that commands all attention then sends the listener off on a dreamy Mazzy Star guitar slide. It’s bliss. 

Most Hypnotizing Bassline 

Winner: Seahaven “Moon”
Seahaven made us wait seven years for this record, and honestly, the bassline on “Moon” alone makes that wait worth it. Placed in the skillful hands of Mike DeBartolo, this song sounds like it was made with the express purpose of winding around his knotty basswork. It’s dark, witchy, and downright spooky yet utterly captivating. I swear I could listen to just the bass on this song for the album’s full runtime. 

Runner-up: Thank You, I’m Sorry “Follow Unfollow”
Admittedly more energetic than “Moon,” “Follow Unfollow” from midwest emo outfit Thank You, I’m Sorry features a dynamic, bouncy bass that drives the song forward. As the bass, courtesy of Bethunni Schreiner, bounces back and forth, the listener is left to watch in awe, taking the track in like a tennis match, merely trying to keep up.

Find Your Throne: Award For Most Positive Song of the Year

Winner: Cliffdiver “Gas City”
Positivity felt in short supply this year. Maybe that’s why songs like “Gas City” stuck out so much from the crowd. Cosmically affirming and infinitely singable, this single from the Oklahoma-based emo group also introduced the group’s new co-lead singer Briana Wright who brings a soaring quality to the song that makes it all the more uplifting. Also featuring the group’s usual mix of tappy emo, honest lyricism, and soulful saxophone, this song has become my go-to whenever I need a pick-me-up.

Runner-up: Guitar Fight From Fooly Cooly “My Friends Are My Power (Spoiler Alert!)”
Any song that opens with a Kingdom Hearts sample and throws directly into a moshpit volley of drums is a winner in my book. I won’t give away the “spoiler” here, but it’s well worth the 1:39-second listen.

Lose Your Throne: Award For Most Self-Deprecating Song of the Year

Winner: Cheem “Smooth Brain”
I feel that “Smooth Brain” really captures the essence of this year well. Between quarantine, the election, and everything in between, I think I could have scraped my brain into a blender and turned it on high for 360 days straight, and I still would have kept it in better shape than whatever I ended up doing. Blending a Patrick Stump-like chorus with pained bars and a glittery instrumental, “Smooth Brain” is the real song of the summer. 

Runner-up: I Love Your Lifestyle “Stupid”
Sometimes everything just plain sucks. You are stupid, I am stupid, he is stupid, she is stupid, this whole thing is stupid. That’s almost literally the sentiment captured in “Stupid” by I Love Your Lifestyle. Built around a repetitive, building, earworm of a chorus, this is a song that sounds more like the things you mutter under your breath while working your retail job dealing with abject nonsense day-in, day-out. Truly an anthem for these stupid ages.

Best Posthumous Album

Winner: Pop Smoke - Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon
Posthumous albums are inherently an uphill battle. You never know how much was created before the artist’s passing and how much was studio fuckery. While Pop Smoke’s death at the beginning of 2020 was an outright tragedy, Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon is nothing short of a triumph. From star-studded features, teeth-gritting bangers, and career-affirming assists, this record does everything right. There’s a diverse wealth of sounds, and Pop Smoke rarely feels overshadowed on his own release, which is an all-too-common pratfall of the posthumous album. Shoot For The Stars is already one of the best trap albums of the decade, it’s just a shame we never got to see Pop Smoke’s career flourish the way he deserved. 

Runner-up: Mac Miller - Circles
Mac Miller’s death at the end of 2018 came as a shock to pretty much everyone. Having spent a decade developing his sound from frat rap mixtapes as a teen to the jazzy poetry he released just a week before his death, Mac was a poster boy for artistic development on top of being an all-around great dude. Circles continues the sound that Mac was fleshing out on Swimming and ends his story in a satisfying place that offered fans some semblance of closure. 

Record Label of the Year

Winner: Acrobat Unstable Records
At nearly every step of the way this year, I was amazed by the North Carolina upstart indie label Acrobat Unstable. Initially conceived as a way for labelmates Eric Smeal and Martin Hacker-Mullin to make tapes and merch for bands that they liked, this quickly ballooned from local acts to bands like Short Fictions and the Callous Daoboys. This year, the label helped release projects from the likes of Carpool, Charm, Acne, Ultimate Frisbee, and Thirty Cent Fare, none of whom I’d heard of before this year, but all of which blew me away. The label also released hundreds of vinyl records and helped bands like Hospital Bracelet, Jail Socks, Stars Hollow, and Origami Angel release merch and vinyl. If next year bears even a semblance of the label’s success in 2020, then we are in for a wild ride. 

Runner-up: Moon Physics
While Acrobat Unstable wins for turning me on to a constant stream of new music throughout 2020, Moon Physics earns their runner-up spot for positing a new way that a label can operate in this capitalist hellscape. Centered around monthly “drops,” this Tony-Hawk-inspired entity describes themselves as a “zero-profit, anti-capitalist” springboard for artists. In between dropping tapes, vinyl, and fingerboards, the label acts as an educational resource that also splits the profit of sales between the artists and local community organizations. An aspirational model that I hope sets the tone for a new decade of labels. I cannot wait to see what’s in store for the organization in 2021.

Honorable mentions to Good Luck Charm Records, Chillwavve Records, and Take This To Heart Records because each of these labels consistently dropped fire releases all throughout the year.

Came Out Swinging: Best New Band of 2020

Winner: It Doesn’t Bother Me
You can say a lot of bad things about 2020, but at least it gave us It Doesn’t Bother Me. This Midwest emo project may have had the misfortunate timing of dropping their debut EP at the height of a quarantined spring, but the way I see it, that just gives them more time to rack up fans who will soon be screaming along to these songs in a sweaty Michigan basement. Alternating between catchy Mom Jeans choruses and You, Me, And Everyone We Know-esque vocal stylings, the band is more than equipped to create a string of iconic emo songs ready for Spotify playlists, emo mixtapes, and infinitely-bigger stages. Get hip now before they blow up. 

Runner-up: Blue Deputy
Blue Deputy didn’t exist before 2020, and now they do. That alone makes this year worth it. A creative (and romantic) partnership between Andy Bunting and Brody Hamilton, Blue Deputy explores the tender spaces of relationships that can only be observed as you’re living them. Look no further than the gorgeous double New Jersey / I Hate Steven Singer for two catchy emo-flavored bedroom pop songs that sparkle and glisten like the glitter on a freshly-uncapped gel pen. These two will do amazing things, and we’re lucky that 2020 allowed such beautiful songs as these into existence. 

Biggest Come-up

Winner: Roddy Ricch
Roddy Ricch began the year with a chart-topping #1 song that fended off singles from both Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. He contributed to the (*secondary) Song of the Summer with Dababy and tossed out features to the likes of Gunna, Pop Smoke, and Ty Dolla Sign. In short, it was Roddy Ricch’s year, unfortunately, the stars just happened to align for him on a really shitty year. 

Runner-up: Redveil
Within the space of one calendar year, Maryland-based Redveil went from an unknown Twitter rapper to one of the internet’s hottest upcoming artists. A baby-faced 16, Redveil created a mixtape that single-handedly made waves all over Twitter and garnered millions of streams, all before he was legally allowed to drive.

Best Revisitation

Winner: Into It. Over It. - Canada Sessions
I respect Evan Thomas Weiss as the face of Fourth Wave emo. I respect his output, I cherish his voice, and I love his dynamic autumnal album from this year. While I love and appreciate his body of work, nothing sits quite as close to my heart as 52 Weeks. That record was formative in my emo upbringing, and it makes me sad he’s “moved on” with albums that have had bigger hit songs. Nothing speaks to me quite the way “Basto” does. Nothing gets me singing quite like “A Song About Your Party.” Nothing feels quite as bile-filled as “Bullied Becomes the Bully,” and honestly, that’s a bummer. I had these songs all but written off until 2020 when Weiss released Canada Sessions, a short EP that saw him revisiting two different decade-old tracks off his breakthrough year of music. Obviously better produced than the original tracks, both “Embracing Facts” and “22 Syllables” absolutely shine in this new context, slightly updated to reflect Weiss’ more recent artistic leanings but still tapping into the same younger soul that created them. An affirmation and a celebration. 

Runner-up: The Fearless Flyers “Adrienne and Adrianne”
The Venn diagram of members between Vulfpeck and Fearless Flyers is almost a circle, and with four iterations of one song under their belt, Vulfpeck are no stranger to revisiting a tune. While I admittedly have a propensity for the band’s earlier instrumental EPs, I have grown to love the Fearless Flyers for the very same reason as Vulf; an abundance of proficient, funky, fun instrumentals. When I heard the sounds of an eight-year-old Vulfpeck deep cut coming out of my 2020 Fearless Flyers record, I just about lost my shit. It’s like putting on an old winter coat; fits like a charm. 

Best Deployment of a Harmonica

Winner: Slow Pulp “Montana”
Essentially the end credits to Slow Pulp’s fantastic debut album, “Montana” is a laid-back and relaxing track that’s as easy as the rolling hills that the song seeks to depict. The song builds to a hypnotic repetition as lead singer Emily Massey pleads, “come on get out of my head,” and becomes fixated on the word “head,” singing it over and over until the song’s close. The deployment of harmonica midway through the track not only breaks the repetitive wave-like nature of the lyrics but feels like a stand-in for something larger than the piece itself, something spiritual I haven’t quite figured out yet. 

Runner-up: Field Medic “HEADCASE”
Kevin Patrick Sullivan (better known as Field Medic) has made his name as an outspoken and famously-mulleted poet, equal parts emo and horny. While the Bob Dylan comparisons can feel simultaneously on-the-nose and unfair, sometimes it’s a hard thing to avoid when one pairs acoustic guitar with harmonica this much. “HEADCASE” is a fast-moving Field Medic track where the harmonica comes in at just the right spot, punctuating a top-tapping chorus and capping off an array of confessional sentiments found in each verse.

Best Split of the Year 

Winner: Arcadia Grey, Oolong, Guitar Fight From Fooly Cooly, dannythestreet - Fatal 4 Way Split
To some degree, many of the big bands from the 5th Wave Emo Movement have already revealed themselves to the world… However, if you were to ask me who some of the best, most promising upcoming bands in the scene are, I’d point you to this split. All harnessing the same jittery zoomer energy, this lineup features some of the best bands currently releasing music on the regular. From the moshpit-opening body dysmorphia found on Arcadia Grey’s “Braum” to the propulsive combo of tapping and screaming found on Oolong’s “Dippin Daniel,” I really believe there’s something for everything on this meeting of the emo minds. Guitar Fight From Fooly Cooly kicks their contribution off with a fist-balling Mortal Kombat sample that makes me want to start swinging the same way “2nd Sucks” did way back in high school. dannythestreet closes the rumble royale off with a glimmering earworm of a melody that leaves me hopeful for the next generation of emo acts. 

Runner-up: Snarls, The Sonder Bombs - A Really Cool Split
As previously established above with the Dogleg x Worst Party Ever split, I’m a sucker for bands covering each other’s songs. It’s cute and sometimes just makes sense in some cosmic way. A Really Cool Split from Snarls and Sonder Bombs sees the two Cleveland bands swapping songs to great effect on top of an acoustic rendition and a long-awaited pre-album single. It’s a loving little pit stop for both bands, one coming hot off one of the most underrated indie pop records of the year and the other ramping up to drop one of the best of 2021. 

Best Release From 2019 That I Didn’t Give A Fair Shake

Winner: Hovvdy - Heavy Lifter
By the time fall rolled in, it was simultaneously jarring and calming. Precipitated by the changing of the leaves and sharp snaps of fall temperatures, the fall season still managed to take me by surprise, but I’ll admit that quarantine has thrown off all sense of time. As I mentally relegated myself to the frigid wintertime, I found Heavy Lifter to be a perfect reflection of my mental state. Somewhat inward, a little bit scattered, and wholly comforting, I did not give this album the time of day back in 2019. Aside from the warming blanket of comfort, what I find more artistically impressive about this record is the way that it can make banal things like falling asleep to YouTube and free parking practically romantic in melody. Never again will I sleep on Hovvdy.

Runner-up: Orville Peck - Pony
While I had seen Orville Peck back in 2019 (his half-mask, half-tassel cowboy hat is hard to miss after all), I realized I had never actually listened to him until this year. Within seconds of hitting play on “Dead of Night,” I realized I’d made a grave mistake. Pony is a dark, mysterious country record centered around Peck’s smoldering baritone, which lends an air of genre-based familiarity. Aside from the record’s immaculate production, what makes these familiar genre trappings fresh is how Peck updates the topics to feel more reflective of our society as it stands. He talks candidly about queerness, drug use, and his own emotions, three things the country of yesteryear would never touch with a ten-foot pole. In other words, Pony represents a long-needed update to an entire genre that everyone is quick to write off; I’m just glad I got here when I did. 

Song of the Year

Winner: Spanish Love Songs “Losers 2”
Seeing Spanish Love Songs live was one of the last concerts I went to this year, and (apparently) one of the last concerts I’ll go to for a while. I could focus on that lack of live music and dwell in a pit of despair, but instead, I’d rather focus on the freedom I felt that night screaming along to my favorite songs with a wall of sweaty fans. 

“Losers 2” is easily my favorite song of the year. Centered around sharp lyricism and a cathartic build, this track quickly became an outlet for me early in 2020. It represents something bigger, something I may not experience for a while, yet experience every day. 

For roughly two minutes, lead singer Dylan Slocum finds himself displaced, revisiting former homes, dead relatives, and economic inequalities. Destined to die poor and wake up forever tired, Slocum has no choice but to continue. Third jobs enter the picture, but the larger scene of mortality and capitalism never fades. It’s a life that many millennials can understand. A life where nothing bad can ever happen because a single accident, a single diagnosis, a single unplanned event can throw your entire future into disarray. Minimum wages aren’t fought for by our politicians, but by mothers, forced to rideshare to demonstrations because they don’t have vehicles of their own. The entire thing paints this richly-detailed picture of a deeply-failed country. Of a failed generation. Of the world in which we currently exist. 

About midway through, the song transitions to the bridge and here’s the part that gets me every. fucking. time. Just as Slocum self-deprecatingly describes himself as a “walking tragic ending,” something shifts inside him. The instrumental cuts out to a single warbling synth note which makes way for the most poignant sentiment of the entire record. The bridge, which I’ll paste here in-full, is a pitch-perfect depiction of this stalemate between economic and emotional devastation.

So I'm leaving the city / Maybe the country / Maybe the earth
Gonna find a place of my own

Where the fuckups aren't cops / Patrolling neighbourhoods they're afraid of / And the rest of us won't burn out / Displacing locals from neighbourhoods we're afraid of

Now if we weren't bailed out / Every time by our parents we'd be dead / What's gonna happen when they're dead?”

There’s really nothing else I can say.

Runner-up: Mandancing “Johnny Freshman”
Mandancing released one of the most underrated emo albums of 2020. The record is packed with gorgeous slice of life tales of love, loss, and friendship. There are stellar performances, jaw-dropping arrangements, and earnest emo deliveries aplenty. Amongst an album that’s so consistently great, my personal peak comes at the tail end with the closing track “Johnny Freshman.”

This enigmatic and slow-moving song is centered around a dual vocal and instrumental build that both peak in the same cathartic way before whisking the listener off on a shimmering emo outro that’s reminiscent of some of my favorite songs of all time. “Johnny Freshman” borrows the same pleading sentiment as Julien Baker’s “Go Home” as lead singer Stephen G. Kelly belts “would you please come home?” over a near-bear instrumental bed. These pleas repeat and eventually culminate in a goosebump-inducing cry of the same phrase as the instrumental grows in scope, eventually consuming the entire track. For 90 seconds the guitar reverberates, the drums roll, and the bass shakes as the band plays out the same ascending chord strum dozens of times, lending the track this meditative quality that gives the listener time to think and reflect on the entire record they had just taken in. Simple masterful. 

Most Anticipated Release of 2021

Winner: Jail Socks - Debut Album
Jail Socks had already created my 2019 Album of the Year, so it probably goes without saying that I’m feverishly anticipating the next moves from the fresh-faced No Sleep signees. Despite only having released a grand total of eight songs to the public, Jail Socks had become one of my favorite 5th Wave emo-ish bands by the end of last year. I still listen to It’s Not Forever on an (at least) weekly basis, so I cannot wait to see what the band does with their first full-length next year. 

Runner-up: Michelle Zauner - Crying In H Mart
My second most-anticipated release of 2020 isn’t an album, but a book. Crying In H Mart is the soon-to-be-released memoir by Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. The book is based on, named after, and presumably in the style of her heartbreaking New Yorker article of the same name. Zauner, who was also the winner of our 2017 Album of the Year, has a beautiful way of navigating words and emotions in a manner that cuts directly to my soul. I’m sure Crying In H Mart will be nothing short of a crushing read, but that’s exactly what I want, and exactly what I need.