If there is only one blessing to come out of this quarantine, it’s that art means more than ever. Music has been healing this year. Whether you’re an avid chart follower or prefer the indie scene, 2020, for all its tragedies, has been a year of great, thought-provoking work that runs the gamut from power-pop to indie-rock to folk. Artists have something to say, and they’ve been fearless in expressing deep matters of the heart, body, and mind.
Below, B-Sides & Badlands has picked our 40 favorite albums and EPs of the year so far, as well as a handful or two honorable mentions. In lieu of traditional review models, we’ve opted to cherish the feelings and images these excellent bodies of work evoke with prose. You’ll see what we mean.
Promising Young Woman (Official Motion Picture Soundtrack) (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Capitol Records
In Three Words: Elastic, Scatterbrained, Glitter
Ice Cream Flavor: Banana
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Any movie in 2020 that uses “Stars are Blind” deserves our full attention. I haven’t seen Promising Young Woman (but plan to on Christmas day), and I can feel it coursing through my body already. I envision songs like “Nihilist” and “Last Laugh” soundtracking some brutal imagery (or maybe not). I hear this film is one for the ages. I’ve bee spinning this soundtrack countless times on my morning runs the last few years, and I just can’t get enough. It’s fierce. It’s empowering. It takes no prisoners. And I am living.
PS: CYN should be a superstar.
Gemstones: “Last Laugh,” “Drinks,” and “Uh Oh”
Mandy Moore, Silver Landings (buy)
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: UMG
In Three Words: Plush, Soothing, Velvet
Ice Cream Flavor: Blue Heaven
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
I’m strolling through a bustling, pre-pandemic downtown. A very slick 1970 Dodge Challenger whizzes by, and the driver, a dashing gentleman with a tightly-groomed mustache, winks at me. I smile, he smiles, and I go on my merry way. My brand new pair of acid wash jeans rides low, and my converse, a deep midnight teal, squeak as I bop along the concrete strip. The sun hangs overhead, its golden, sharp rays cascade a misty, waterfall-like shower around me. It is in these moments, with albums like that, which wash over you, that you feel most alive.
Gemstones: “I’d Rather Lose,” “Tryin’ My Best, Los Angeles,” and “When I Wasn’t Watching”
Sasha Sloan, Only Child (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: RCA Records
In Three Words: Bruised, Delicate, Majesty
Ice Cream Flavor: Chocolate Coffee
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
We all feel loneliness in this world sometimes, but I swear I feel it more than most. 2020 came crashing in like a wrecking ball, shattering plaster walls into apple crumbles. There’s a certain beauty in such tragedy, and even when it feels like you’ve hit rock bottom, there’s a whole other basement sub-level waiting for your depression. I can’t tell some days whethere I’m living or barely surviving, and I suppose at the end of our life, there’s not much difference.
Gemstones: “Is It Just Me?,” “Santa’s Real,” and “House with No Mirrors”
Katie Pruitt, Expectations (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Rounder
In Three Words: Hawk, Betwitching, Redemptive
Ice Cream Flavor: POG (Passion Fruit-Orange-Guava)
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
The cathedral rises in sharp angles. The stones run cold, yet there is a warmth emanating from the cracks, flaky crusts signaling ripened age and wisdom. Soft reds, yellows, and blues scatter like leaves across the entryway and wind in jagged, eerie, and uncertain patterns. Pointed arches sneer and taunt above my head, but I’m unconcerned at such devilish grins. A choir of stately and saintly voices bounce through the cavern, and even my skeleton rattles from its blast. It’s a one-of-a-kind humbling experience you likely won’t ever witness again.
Gemstones: “My Mind’s a Ship (That’s Going Down),” “Grace Has a Gun,” and “Georgia”
Katy Perry, Smile (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Capitol Records
In Three Words: Frolic, Healing, Ecstasy
Ice Cream Flavor: Birthday Cake
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Your mascara-stained cheeks deceive you. You plaster on a smile, dance until dawn’s first light, and hope to god no one notices your quivering lip. He had the audacity to break up with you over text, and when you went to his place to confront him, he didn’t answer. You went to his work. “He’s off today,” they say. On your way back, you let the floodgates open again and cr your way through the wine aisle at the corner 7-Eleven. You wave off all interaction and questions about your emotional state. You’re fragile. They should get it. You snag the largest bottle of merlot you can afford and drag your feet back home. You don’t even notice your cats vying for your attention as soon as you get inside your place; you only have one thing on your mind: a corkscrew. You yank it out of the silverware drawer and lock yourself in the bathroom. “It’ll all be better if you just get drunk,” you convince yourself. You know it actually won’t but you can try. Numbness is better than the pain.
Gemstones: “Cry About It Later,” “Only Love,” and “Never Really Over”
Neon Dreams, The Happiness of Tomorrow (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Dreaming Out Loud
In Three Words: Glistening, Alarming, Affecting
Ice Cream Flavor: Firecracker
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Crying on the dance floor has never felt so good. The bass throbs from the speakers that hang precariously on rusted chains over your head, sending gentle, electrifying ripples into the air and right on your tongue. You’ve perhaps had one more drink than you should have, but here you are standing in the middle of a crowd and soaking in the music. No one is paying attention; they’re all hypnotized and left to their own thoughts. Your sister’s death still pierces in your head and so you tangle the misery and the euphoria until it emerges as a new kind of greenery. You’ll be better for it. Trust me.
Gemstones: “Don’t Go Hating Me Now,” “Lifestyles of the Broke and Nameless,” and “House Party”
Hailey Whitters, The Dream (buy)
Genre: Country
Label: Pigasus
In Three Words: Rustic, Tangy, Knitted
Ice Cream Flavor: Maple Walnut
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
The front porch snarled around the front of the farmhouse. Built in the 1800s, it was surprisingly sturdy, but its many dents, scratches, and creeks surely let you know time had long cast a cool shadow. We had just moved in, taking over ownership after our grandparents had passed. Aromas of pipe tobacco, rose petals, and White Diamonds mixed into a potent cloud. It was unavoidable once you crossed the threshold; it hit you like a ton of bricks. Once you got used to it, it was part of the home’s magic. Two rocking chairs perched side-by-side in the sitting room, laced with wide-rimmed bay windows across the front and left corner. It was picturesque, but covered its serenity with deep wisdom only wrought from long lives, heavy tragedies, and a resolve to never give up.
Gemstones: “Janice at the Hotel Bar,” “The Devil Always Made Me Think Twice,” and “The Days”
Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Warner
In Three Words: Odyssey, Tigress, Funkadelic
Ice Cream Flavor: Champagne & Violet
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Neons splashed across my face. The music throbbed in the eardrums, drowning out all other sensations; but that’s probably because of the fourth shot of whiskey. It went down smooth, tingling my lips, and warming the stomach. Perfectly paired with the room’s electricity, bodies writhing as one, time seemed to stand still in a pool of rainbow hues, thick beats, and a sensuality that sprouted from every corner. Truth be told, it was already five in the morning, but no one seemed to mind. Even the owners had lost track of the time, so they let us just dance, dance, dance. Grooves flooded our souls, and cleaned any anxieties that might still be awaiting us outside. We were stuck in the moment, and we no longer cared.
Gemstones: “Cool,” “Levitating,” and “Break My Heart”
Cam, The Otherside (buy)
Genre: Country
Label: RCA Records
In Three Words: Woodlands, Time, Homesickness
Ice Cream Flavor: Coconut Almond Chip
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Redwoods stretched out endlessly in every direction. Your barefeet, certainly worse from wear in your journey, sunk into cool moss. You bounced on the balls of your feet, chucking out loud, and you belly laugh seemed to carry like squirrels pouncing along rock and dirt to find nuts for the winter months. The air had a chill to it, only slightly tinged, as the flashy green canopy cast its long, spooky shadow. You sipped in the foliage, savoring the aromas of earth’s outer crust, soggy and springy, and turned to your left to find a seat on a smooth stone. It’s surface send a cascade of goosebumps trotting up your backbone, yet it gave you a sense of relief. You finally found the haven you’d long sought, removed from the pain of death and ruin wrought in the outside world. You’d stay here for the rest of time, you told yourself. Maybe you could make it work, live off the land, and scavange what else you could. The Redwoods were your family now, and you were perfectly content to die in silence.
Gemstones: “Diane,” “Redwood Tree,” and “Till There’s Nothing Left”
Vardaan Arora, Heartbreak on the Dance Floor EP (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Magnetic, Sensual, Victorious
Ice Cream Flavor: Lavender Honey
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
There are few raw powers as great as one’s sexuality. Even more, the ability to fully own it and take up space is as exhilarating and quite frankly contagious. That’s probably one of the most universal of lessons in this life: sex is empowering. Once you’ve unlocked the most vulnerable part of yourself, a new level of self-awareness leads on you a path to fully understanding who you are and what you deserve. And those things that only bring you pain and misery are left in the dumpster behind the 7-Eleven. Instead, you head down to the local club, toss back a few shots, and learn what it means to feel alive.
Gemstones: “Do You Hate Me?,” “I Don’t Wanna Know,” and “Rare”
Blake English, Spiders Make Great Poets EP (buy)
Genre: Pop/Punk
Label: Bad Kitty
In Three Words: Sticky, Psychotic, Grinding
Ice Cream Flavor: Catching Fire
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
I harbored resentment for years. I guess I still do in some ways. You carry baggage long enough and the muscles fade from terribly sore to sinewy and strong. But I was somewhere stuck in the middle. The pain shot through my arms like a lethal injection, and I couldn’t stop it. I always had to drop the little blue, faux-leather carryon right where I was standing. It’d often plop right in a mud puddle, the summer rain only then parting to reveal another sort of blue. I’d let the agony simmer and seep out of my body; I’d reclaim my bag; and trot toward the bus station. This is all metaphoric, of course. I’m in a constant state of transition these days, constantly confronting past traumas, constantly crying out, and constantly learning again and working toward what’s next. It never ends ─ and I hope it never does.
Gemstones: “The Neighbors,” “Sad Girl Dance Party,” and “United States of Depression”
Courtney Marie Andrews, Old Flowers (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Fat Possum Records
In Three Words: Harvest, Brokenness, Threadbare
Ice Cream Flavor: Salty Caramel Cashew
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You twirled the photograph in your hands. An old woman, perhaps in her 60s, sat leisurely in a creeky wooden chair, the front porch framing her meager, brittle frame. Dusty, cobwebbed windows glimmered behind her, and the one-room shack’s wood siding seemed to have a story to tell. Those four walls and a roof hinted at deep pain, tucked away in the Appalachian hills. You can’t remember the woman’s name, but you know she’s an ancestor. It’s the 1930s, you think, and her rough, sunken demeanor burrows into your brain. You don’t know much else about her, only what you can surmise in black and white. It’s the devastation of the poor that hurts you most, and you may never shake it. You’ve stared into her lifeless eyes a million times before, picking apart her pupils to find some nugget of truth, but you’re just left with a collage of what ifs. In the end, all we have left are relics such as these, and the actual stories fade as the setting sun. With a sigh, you toss the photograph back into the shoebox and tuck it under your bed. Maybe another day.
Gemstones: “Together or Alone,” “If I Told,” and “How You Get Hurt”
Conan Gray, Kid Krow (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Republic
In Three Words: Brooding, Neon, Fizzy
Ice Cream Flavor: Moon Mist
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
The emotional bars are wrought iron, built sometime in the 17th Century. You claw at them, anyway. You obsess over every detail ─ each crevice, innate carving, beauteous figurines caught as time capsules from a time you’re likely never going to understand. They imprint upon your mind anyway, and before you realize, tears cascade down your cheeks, and you’re swept away into a far away wonderland of past hurt and misery. In doing so, the walls slide inward, your claustrophobia sets in, and your skin grows ever colder. You soon flush purple and blue, perhaps suffocating on a relationship you know all along was a severe toxin, but you drank it down anyway. As you lie there, writhing on marble, the miniatures etched into stone seem to come alive around you. They laugh. They point their jagged little fingers, some broken off years ago from weather’s merciless hand, and you can’t smack them away. In the nick of time, the grip around your throat vanishes, and air refills your lungs. Rinse and repeat.
Gemstones: “Wish You Were Sober,” “Checkmate,” and “The Cut That Always Bleeds”
Zach Aaron, Fill Dirt Wanted (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Grave, Gravel, Gritty
Ice Cream Flavor: Charcoal
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
I once lived down a back dirt road. It was the kind of dirt road that couldn’t not stir up a dust bowl every time you barreled down, pedal to the metal, as they say. A fill-up station perched at the mouth, right off the only major highway in sight. Its chipped paint, creaky floorboards, and sticky, fog-like haze instantly transported you back decades. It was a vintage shop by even ‘90s standards. I couldn’t have been more than nine or 10. But I recall a wrinkly, all-smiling old man, who hobbled around as best he could, often planting himself firmly on the porch. You’ve seen that porch. We all have. It’s right out of the moving pictures. He chewed tobacco, had seen some stuff and thangs in wartime long ago, and knew even darker underbellies you couldn’t possibly fathom. There was a mystery that descended around that derelict little shop. I like their cow tails. If you don’t know what cow tails are, well, they’re just about the best damn candy ever made. I’d also get some coke. In a glass bottle. How cute. By now, 20 years later, that place is likely deteriorated into the earth again. That man is likely dead and cold in the ground. There’s a bittersweetness with that fact. We can only have things for so long before life mildews and grows over it and something new sprouts in its place. Or maybe, probably more likely, the store has been long abandoned and only snakes, spiders, and shoulder-height weeds remain. Yeah. That’s it.
Gemstones: “Aztec Cafe,” “Shelter of the Storm,” and “Potato Salad”
Charles Fauna, YONDER (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Sleep Well
In Three Words: Spandex, Ceremonial, Sparkles
Ice Cream Flavor: Strawberry
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Music is taking a baptism. You wade in and lose all sense of reality. A fantastical underwater world scales up your body, seeping into your every pore, and your limbs grow numb. But it’s not the kind of numbness that paralzyes. In fact, it’s just the opposite. You’re becoming one with the water, and any claim you once had on yourself mingles with the ocean of droplets. You’re not lost, simply wandering and letting whatever to simply be. The mental threads which once gave you headaches and other crippling ailments are now soothed and replenished. The water cools down to the bone, as if you’re passing right through the world on a molecular level. You listen. An alarming stillness settles around you. You’re immersed to the point of no return. The toxicity you once embraced crushes into plankton and soon sweeps away into the relentless current. Its force, however, never overtakes your own will to survive. The music guides you, and you soon blossom into the best version of yourself.
Gemstones: “A Total Dream,” “Apollo,” and “The Divine”
Dead Method, Queer Genesis (buy)
Genre: Alt/Pop
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Rave, Moonsong, Nirvana
Ice Cream Flavor: Mango
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You approach the door of The Quagmire with trepidation. It’s looming silhouette sends a chill down your spine, and as the doors fly open, revealing a dark, winding and altogether dark inner skeleton, a thrill courses in youd blood stream. You slowly make your way through sweaty bodies, some dominatrix foreplay, and find yourself taking a lonely staircase to the lowest level possible ⏤ and as your vision adjusts, you witness the most intoxicating underworld. Blasting through the speakers is Queer Genesis, and you just know it’ll all be alright.
Gemstones: “Babylon,” “Violent Men,” and “Mind Games”
Ashley McBryde, Never Will (buy)
Genre: Country
Label: Warner
In Three Words: Tart, Grueling, Acrobatic
Ice Cream Flavor: Tutti Frutti
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You bury someone in the ground, and then you go feed others. What a strange ritual. I suppose it’s not nearly as disturbing as taking photographs of your loved ones, post-mortem. You lay out a delicious smorgasbord, from mama’s potato salad to daddy’s coleslaw, you invite a host of guests, most of whom you probably don’t even know or remember from childhood, you share stories, you laugh, you cry, and everyone leaves. You’re left picking up the mess, washing dishes, and shelving enough leftovers to last till next week. If you think about it, the post-funeral get-together, as bizarre as the whole thing is, is a necessary part of grieving. It keeps your hands and your mind busy. It puts your emotions on hold. Of course, later, all the sadness, anger, and frustrations pour forth and into the pillow. It gives you some time. Time to hold on, to cherish those memories a tad bit longer. We all could use more time.
Gemstones: “Velvet Red,” “Stone,” and “Hang in There Girl”
Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Dead Oceans
In Three Words: Tortured, Shells, Processional
Ice Cream Flavor: Black Sabbath
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
I have friends frozen in time. They’re dead, but it’s like they’re caught like icicles crowning the edges of my brain. So anytime I step across that mental margin ─ and it can be anything, something tedious or mundane ─ I think of them. I think about how they’ll never experience that new record or that new TV show or try that new drink. It’s devastating. I live their lives over and over and over again. I think of that first (and only) concert together. I think of toiling away in the smoldering, oily summer air down in Disney World. I think of the beauty in his life, a goofy, but hearty, chuckle that jiggles all the way down. I think of his eyes fluttering side to side as he struggles from his near-lifeless corpse to tell me something. I think of his final moments and what that must have been like, to be so suffocated by the blackness that you can’t do anything but find an escape hatch. I think all manner of things as I go about my very charmed life. I think and I cry.
Gemstones: “Halloween,” “Savior Complex,” and “Graceland Too”
Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts (buy)
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: RCA Records
In Three Words: Revolution, Brilliance, Leather
Ice Cream Flavor: Rocky Road
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You try and you try, and you just can’t please anyone. It feels like the world rejects every single part of yourself, so you pretend to be what you think they want. Ultimately, it leads you down a very depression path to sheer isolation ⏤ and no matter what you do, it’ll never be good enough. So, you slam right into rock bottom, perhaps intentionally, and you set the whole thing on fire. Fire is cleansing, and so you think, “I have nowhere to go but up.” You rebuild yourself into a fearless warrior, finally giving no fucks about what anyone thinks. That’s freedom.
Gemstones: “High,” “Hate Me,” and “Angels Like You”
Beach Bunny, Honeymoon (buy)
Genre: Indie/Rock
Label: Mom+Pop
In Three Words: Fuzzy, Fleece, Freaky
Ice Cream Flavor: Hokey Pokey
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
I could get lost in internet chat rooms. Worming away the days with strangers had a particular absurdity to it. Like, think about it. It’s fucking weird. When my family finally got a home computer, circa 1999 (I think), I’d spend hours online scouring message boards and MSN’s many chat rooms just to talk to people. Sure, I had AOL Messenger for my friends (oh the time wasted perfecting those away messages, oh my!), but there was something special (special…is that the word?!?) about striking up conversations with faceless, or overly-blurred, avatars. Sometimes, you’d actually stumble upon a friendship. My BFF at the time actually dated somebody who lived on the other side of the country. I forget his name. He was cute but an absolute whacko. I can’t believe she did that. We all do stupid, peculiar things on the internet. Go on Twitter and it’s no different. Just the times have changed. I imagine the trouble I would have gotten into had we had today’s social media 20 years ago…
Gemstones: “Ms. California,” “Promises,” and “Colorblind”
Rina Sawayama, SAWAYAMA (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Ditty Hit
In Three Words: Glitter, Velocity, Unstoppable
Ice Cream Flavor: Huckleberry
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
It’s a deep-chest feeling. Those moments when it’s like sparks emanate from some unknown cavern in your body. Even when time seems to mercilessly sever those memories, or those people who drift away as the sun always does, you are still struck by that same energy. It’s playing hide and seek until midnight, with only the harvest moon lighting your way. It’s your first kiss with your first love on the pier at dusk, your lips still sticky from taffy, soda pop, and cotton candy. It’s the magnetic pull to your best friend, a relationship you cherish and keep alive for years and decades to come. It’s knowing you’re doing everything in your power to change and see change happen in your life. It’s realizing life’s propulsive motion keeps you locked in orbit, and you’re always on a course for your next destination, a slew of adventures sweeping in all directions. You just have to make the choice to say YES to it all.
Gemstones: “Bad Friend,” “Who’s Gonna Save U Now?,” and “STFU!”
Mickey Guyton, Bridges EP (buy)
Genre: Country
Label: Capitol Records
In Three Words: Relentless, Provocative, Defiance
Ice Cream Flavor: Cotton Candy
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
There’s only so much pain you can endure. Everything you hoped would come to be fades away like flowers in the fall. Petals crumble and crunch, and beauty dissipates as brutally as the changing of seasons. What you were taught isn’t what is. Instead, you confront a cold, dark, and merciless world that is hellbent on staying the same. So, you stand your ground, as best you can, and pray for dawn to break. It has to break eventually. Right?
Gemstones: “Black Like Me,” “Heaven Down Here,” and “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?”
Kris Angelis, That Siren, Hope EP (buy)
Genre: Folk/Americana
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Lagoon, Wings, Awakening
Ice Cream Flavor: Butter Brickle
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
My first real heartbreak came in college. I was a fool then, but now I realize I needed to have my heart ripped in two. My 20-year-old self didn’t see it that way. When he told me he no longer had interest, over the phone no less, I was devastated. It’s hard to put into words that slippery feeling. It’s like you’ve been totally castrated, and tears pour like a summer thunderstorm. I screamed. I tore the air from my lungs. I couldn’t possibly see anything but black tar over my body. I was disgusted with him, and the rage could not be alleviated no matter how hard I tried. Of course, I eventually moved on, but it was the writhing around in such misery that defines human experience. We can’t have the light without pitch dark. If we didn’t, we’d never be able to appreciate the goodness, the sweetness, the stunning beauty of it all. But remember those tear-tracked cheeks. That blood-boiling rage. The sorrow. It’ll make you a better person.
Gemstones: “I Hope I Never Fall in Love Again,” “That Siren, Hope,” and “Misplaced Hope”
VINCINT, The Feeling EP (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Diamonds, Majestic, Visceral
Ice Cream Flavor: Red Hot Lover
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You’re young and in love, and you can’t possibly imagine anything going wrong. But the crash is inevitable. We all get our hearts shattered sooner or later. When it happens, it’s like the world is ending. And those feelings, pounding anger and sobbing misery, are all valid. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. And you remember ever single detail. The way he’d caress your cheek as the sun was just setting, the two of you nestled on a Mickey Mouse beach towel, soaking in sounds of the waves and seagulls baying overhead. The words which fall from his lips leaves you gutted: “I think we should see other people,” he says. His caress means something different now. It means it was a last goodbye. The next moments brand into your skin, but they also whisk by in a blur. You cried. You howled. You made a scene right there on the beach. Later, you got wine drunk and drunk dialed your BFF. She came over and consoled you (and also got wine drunk). The next day, you nursed the worst hangover and heartbreak of your life. Time truly will be your only savior. But remember this moment. Remember the pain, because one day it’ll only be a footnote to the very good. Bask in it and never let it go.
Gemstones: “Please Don’t Fall in Love,” “Someday,” and “Save Myself”
Malin Pettersen, Wildhorse (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Die With Your Boots On Records
In Three Words: Serene, Marigolds, Dusk
Ice Cream Flavor: Lemon Custard
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
The horizon looks sad. Your beau has been gone for god knows how long now. He’s the tumbleweed type. He’s always rolling this way and that, galivanting down the east seaboard chasing this odd job and that, and even he knows there’s no future in living such a life. You stand on your rickety front porch, gazing out with a solemn look curling your lips. There’s a certain unease that blows in from that direction, and you ponder why you’ve let your heart be so snatched by a man who’d no sooner trade your heart in for a few buck, if he could. Every single time he comes agalloping through the sun’s tearful rays, your spirits leap, and agasinst your better judgement, you dart to his silhouette and nearly lose your breath. He hops off his trusty stead, grabs you roughly, and his bristled mustache makes you giggle as he kisses you. And you instantly remember why you’re so smitten….
Gemstones: “Hometown,” “Arkansas,” and “Weightless”
American Aquarium, Lamentations (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: New West
In Three Words: Downpour, Traveler, Merciless
Ice Cream Flavor: Moose Tracks
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Emotions always run hot for me. Whatever it is I’m feeling, I feel it deeply, down to my bones, and it rattles and quakes. I cry hard. I guffaw like a hyena. I don’t do it often, but anger makes me shake. I wear my heart on my sleeve. But truth be told, it’s much bigger than that. I’m an emotional person, clearly, and it often feels uncontrollable. Like a hurricane grinding into the coastline, uprooting trees and destroying houses. It was only until I entered my 30s that I began to understand why. I’ve had a haunted past (abuse, assault, toxicity, etc.), and I may have scrapes, bruises, and stitches, but I’m alive. What came before doesn’t define what comes next. It’s part of who I am; I can’t ignore what I’ve been through. Key is not letting it derail growing in this life. It also might help I’ve been re-reading Shonda Rhimes’ iconic YEAR OF YES, in which she learns to say YES to herself in all facets of her life and gains new insight into when a hard NO is appropriate, too. I’ve been burned. I’ve been dragged across concrete. I’ve been trampled on and left for dead. But I can either wallow in it or learn from it. I unapologetically choose the latter.
Gemstones: “Before the Dogwood Blooms,” “Starts with You,” and “A Better South”
Jonathan Something, Cannibal House Rules (buy)
Genre: Alt/Rock
Label: Solitaire Recordings
In Three Words: Gruesome, Spine-tingling, Shocking
Ice Cream Flavor: Tiger Tail
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You’d fallen in lvoe with a maniac, and you didn’t even notice the signs. He’d stay out late, come home dragging his blood-laced workman’s boots, and you were not the wiser. You accepted whatever farfetched excuse he made; your love ran that deep. So deep, that when he attacked you in your sleep, one brisk October morn, you were like a deer who’s dashed into the middle of the road and are somehow shocked when a Ford pick-up slams into your body. There you were, caught in deep slumber, when the monster struck, and there was nothing you could do about it. In the end, maybe you still loved him ⏤ that disturbing, primal look in his eyes was so full of passion. How were you to know it was out of a blind rage?
Gemstones: “God is Goth,” “Sticky Love,” and “It’s Hip Not to Try”
Tenille Townes, The Lemonade Stand (buy)
Genre: Country
Label: Sony
In Three Words: Glistening, Quest, Painful
Ice Cream Flavor: Cake Batter
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
When you become a young adult, you realize beliefs you’ve adopted from your parents or parent-like figures don’t make sense for you. There’s a lot of soul-searching, and to be honest, living you need to do before you can become your own person. I remember when I went off to college. It was the biggest move of my life up to that point. Three hours away. I could make my own decisions about everything, from what I had for dinner to which faith I practiced. I stumbled, as most people do who’ve just been given the keys to the kingdom and don’t know the first thing about leading. You do your best and try new things. You go to parties. You make out with strangers. You stay up way too late and miss your 8 a.m. biology class (seriously, what was I thinking voluntarily signing up for a class that early…?!). And you probably break a few hearts. It’s all part of this very strange human existence. Looking back now, I wouldn’t change a thing about my 20s. I’m thankful they happened the way they did.
Gemstones: “Somebody’s Daughter,” “Jersey on the Wall (I’m Just Asking),” and “When I Meet My Maker”
Tom Aspaul, Black Country Disco (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Spandex, Timewarp, Starcrossed
Ice Cream Flavor: Watermelon
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You met him on the dance floor. It was a severe and quick attachment. Your bodies were totally insync, and it felt like the night would last forever. The disco ball spun its shimmering crystal around your bodies, like a wave tossing two seemingly strange sailboats toward one another without rhyme or reason. So you just danced and danced and danced. When last call came and the lights flickered into their sterile haze, the spell had not yet broken, and hand-in-hand, you stumbled your way out into the street and made your way down to the pier. Standing there, his kiss intoxicating you, you felt the most alive you’ve ever felt. It was like perfectly ripe watermelon on your tongue. That moment sprinted on and on until the sun’s first rays broke the mountaintops and that sinking feeling began to squirm inside you. It was going to end, an dall things do, good or bad. 15 years later, that night, that person, that moment still swells inside your chest. Unforgettable.
Gemstones: “Traces,” “Close 2 Me,” and “Tender”
Jaime Wyatt, Neon Cross (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: New West
In Three Words: Shimmering, Transformative, Gilded
Ice Cream Flavor: Stracciatella
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Sometimes I wish I would have come out sooner. I came out first as gay in 2006. I came out again as non-binary in 2017. I think about the time wasted, the worry over what other people would think, the reconciliation I had to do with my upbringing. I came up in the Methodist church; studied with Patch the Pirate every Sunday; and my then-step mother was a strict believer. I was taught my identity was a sin, and I never knew until much later that that just isn’t true. The pain and self-loathing I inflicted upon myself… I think now, “How foolish!” I was in college when everything changed. I met queer people who were nothing but unapologetically themselves. I discovered I could be, too, if only I would let myself. So, I did, an dI am. I had my first queer romances. I had my heart broken numerous times that four years. I picked myself up again and again after each one. As I stand more self-assured these days than I could have possibly imagined, I hope some shy, queer 20-something out there realizes that they are worth more than even the finest diamonds.
Gemstones: “Rattlesnake Girl,” “Make Something Outta Me,” and “Just a Woman”
Lera Lynn, On My Own (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Survival, Locomotive, Weave
Ice Cream Flavor: Jackfruit
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
The horse’s gallop was relentless. Rock and trees, lining your path down to the river, fell away. You glanced over your shoulder and before you knew it, the countryside whisked away from your grasp. You turned back, and the stead, named Eugene, seemed to pick up his pace as he crested the ridge. The sky opened up to the bluest of blues, peppery clouds floating by without a care in the world. You needed to get back home before dark, and time was not on your side. You had another five or six miles yet to sojourn, and the sun was already yawning and letting out a deep, cool sigh. The valley surrounding your family’s land was still lush and green, striking in such twilight, and it almost felt like a fantasy. In a dreamlike trance, you let Eugene do the work, your own eyes fluttering beneath the weight of long travels. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” you muttered. You gathered your sense and set your gaze on home. “Just a little bit futher…”
Gemstones: “Make You OK,” “Are You Listening?,” and “Let Me Tell You Something”
Gabrielle Aplin, Dear Happy (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Never Fade
In Three Words: Starbursts, Replenishing, Angelic
Ice Cream Flavor: Lucuma
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Those few first seconds of the morning are the best. It’s 5 a.m., and the world is still quiet. It’s serene. A tenderly rising sun paints the sky rosy pink, embroidered with soft purples and magentas. You’d never suspect the world was on fire by this shere display of beauty. And your mind has not yet been contaminated by the internet. In fact, it’s only a fleeting blip on your radar, at least for the moment. This moment, though, stands in your mind, and you always come back to it. In the ensuing hours, it’s all washed down with a number of poisons, some concocted by your own mental stingers, and it takes all you have to stay above water. You know how to dog paddle, so that’s something. It’s when the sun begins to straddle the horizon that you’re swept back again to those cool, untouched early seconds. That bliss soon returns to your skin, medicating you from the day’s worries and pain. Even if it’s been one of those days, you know grace will come in the night. You wait for it, and it welcomes you back home.
Gemstones: “One of Those Days,” “My Mistake,” and “Losing Me”
Neon Trees, I Can Feel You Forgetting Me (buy)
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: Thrill Forever LLC
In Three Words: Ghost, Delirium, Paradise
Ice Cream Flavor: Raspberry Ripple
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
Like when you were in the moment, you didn’t realize how bad it was. You were simply having the time of your life. You stayed out till five am almost every single night, but you don’t care. You drink till you can’t see straight and drive recklessly down the I-95. You probably shouldn’t, and it’s not until you’re nursing the worst hangover of your life (like 100 times already) on the bathroom floor that you realize cycles need to break. That’s when your mental demons come out to play, and your torment is only beginning. The walls are closing in, or your mind would like you to think so, and the emotional unraveling leads you right back to where you started. That night, you suit up in that sexy new pair of jeans, wash your mouth with Jack Daniels, and text that guy you shouldn’t. You do the same things and see the same people, but at least you’re living.
Gemstones: “Skeleton Boy,” “Mess Me Up,” and “New Best Friend”
Aubrie Sellers, Far from Home (buy)
Genre: Americana/Country
Label: Soundly
In Three Words: Lightning, Cavernous, Monumental
Ice Cream Flavor: Cherry
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
One minute, you’re snapping green beans with your nanny. The August heat thickens like syrup. A gleeful smirk splattered on your face, you hunch over the bowl straddled between your legs. You take your work so serious. You’re caught in a race not only against yourself but your nanny, whose been doing such work for decades. She eyes you sheepishly, playing like she can’t quite pick up. But as soon as you let your guard down, she speeds through a heap of beans quicker than a race horse crossing the finish line. You’re at first disappointed, but she no sooner snatched up your heap and tosses them into the yard. “Well, whattay doing? Go get ’em!” she mock-yells. You tumble over laughing, a belly-laugh so deep you won’t be able to stand. Your face smacks against sharp blades, and you’re jolted to your senses. You pop up, a sprightly little fairy, and totter across the greenery. You yank up a handful and balance back to your seat. But on your way, you spot a bit of black charcoal creeping up the mountains. A crack of thunder and a sparse bolt of lightning brights up the sky. “Oh, well, we better head inside,” nanny instructs. “Looks like a doozy.” Together, you collect up any spare beans, the couple of bowls, and trot inside. It’s a simply memory, but its simplicity exemplifies why life is just so… good.
Gemstones: “Worried Mind,” “Under the Sun,” and “Far from Home”
Ava Max, Heaven & Hell (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Atlantic Records
In Three Words: Rockstar, Vintage, Witchy
Ice Cream Flavor: Orange Creamsicle
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You used to spend your Friday night paining your nails, flipping through Tiger Beat, and thirsting after Harvey on Sabrina. It was the ’90s and your boxy television set was state of the art ⏤ you imagined yourself as Hollywood starlet who was dating whatever that week’s hottest hunk happened to be. You’d dial up your girlfriends and dish about the latest gossip, or perhaps make prank phone calls to guys you were crushing on hardcore. The Nicktoons comforter was soft on your skin, and it’d comfort you, pun intend, through the hardest of TV breakups. You watched Friends come and go; you belly laughed to every episode of Will & Grace; and you clutched it around your throat watching Scream. TV sparked your imagination, and now, 20 years later, that time of your life was truly the time of your life.
Gemstones: “So Am I,” “Naked,” and “OMG What’s Happening”
Cf Watkins, Babygirl (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Radiant, Heirloom, Lonesome
Ice Cream Flavor: Teaberry
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
It’d been at least 20 years since you read any of her letters. You can still hear her voice ringing red hot in your ears as you scan yellowed notebook paper, triapsing over passages about the weather, the garden’s latest harvest, and what the gossipy next door neighbor is up to. Nanny had a homey way about her. She always relished the simpler things in life, from the leisurely stroll back to the house after Sunday morning church service or dragging a lawn chair underneath the shade tree. You can see it all know, as her words hit you anew: a two story farm house on the crest of a knoll, lines of spruce and poplar stitched along the backside, leading down into small cluster of trees that feed into expansive farmland. Her letters, which you’d tucked into a trunk in the attic, crunched in your fingertips, and you were almost scared they’d crumble into dust. But so is life. We’re born; we live; and we die. We’re all just memories in the end.
Gemstones: “New Hampsire,” “Frances,” and “Changeable”
Kelsy Karter, Missing Person (buy)
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: BMG
In Three Words: Rebel, Glamorous, Dazed
Ice Cream Flavor: Chokecherry
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
There are few things as exhilarating as the open road, sleazy motels, and the cresten moon igniting the white lines. After your fight with your parents, you hopped in your shiny new Mazda (your parents literally just bought it for you) with a backpack stashed with the essentials: a half bottle of Vodka, your favorite Ahhh! Real Monsters sweatpants, a pack of cigarettes, and $500, your entire life’s savings. Once you hit the freeway, your head still raging at you old folks’ audacity to question your choice in boyfriend. Ok, so, Roger wasn’t the best of characters, but he made you giggle when he walked into the room and you felt like you could conquer the world. You’d drive over the edge for him. Your cheecks still flushed red hot, and knowing you could do something crazy before you realized it was crazy, you sped to his place to convince him to come out west with you. He naturally agreed, flashing his sparkling grin that always make you melt, and you two bolted away from the only life you’d known. You’d probably regret it immediately, but just go with it. Life is too short for second guessing.
Gemstones: “Stick to Your Guns,” “You Only Die Once,” and “I’m So Mad at Him”
Tessy Lou Williams, Tessy Lou Williams (buy)
Genre: Country
Label: Independent
In Three Words: Crisp, Saloon, Yesteryear
Ice Cream Flavor: Fudge Ripple
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
I used to love line dance. I loved it before it was cool. My local volunteer fire department used to host these Friday night hoe-downs. They’d pull you bails of hay, stack ’em up, scatter ’em around, set the mood. Everyone I knew or who were friends of my parents would come out, dressed to the nines in their best cowboy attire. From miles away, they’d fill that aluminum hot house and get to boot scootin’ until midnight. There’s a particular romance to it. I don’t think they do it much anymore. But there was a time when it was the place to be on the weekends. I couldn’t have been older than 11 or 12, and I’d go with my friends, weaving in and out of the sea of adults and make our way outside. We didn’t necessarily want to dance. We didn’t understand it much, to be frank with you. We wanted to play tag or something. Cool summer nights, those Friday night hoedowns, lost innocences… that’s what I remember most about my youth.
Gemstones: “Somebody’s Drinking About You,” “Why Do I Still Want You,” and “Midnight Arms”
Dagny, Strangers / Lovers (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Little Daggers Records
In Three Words: Bubbles, Giallo, Twilight
Ice Cream Flavor: Grape
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You never felt as alive as you did that summer. It was more than a decade ago, but you dream about it almost every single night. The way he held your hand as you balanced on the rusted railroad track, the humid July sun earing down on your bear shoulders. You got the worst sunburn that day. It was almost lobster red and it peeled something fierce. You laugh now, but then, it hurt like hell. His kiss was like strawberry wine; it had a thick tang to it that lingered on your lips. And you’ll never forget cuddling up on the riverbank, watiching fireworks exploding in mid-air and leaving a pungent odor in the breeze. The grass tickled your calves, almost to an itch, but you didn’t care. Just being with him that night was everything. He was everything. As often happens, the seasons quickly changed and so did he. You drifted apart as severely as you came together. You cried, and it hurt. Now, all you cherish is the sweet. Oh, the sweet. It still rings hot in your ears.
Gemstones: “Let Me Cry,” “Come Over,” and “Tension”
The Northern Belle, We Wither, We Bloom (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Die With Your Boots On Records
In Three Words: Canyons, Metamorphosis, Rustic
Ice Cream Flavor: Pistachio Rose
What memories, emotions, and images does this album evoke?
You’ve experienced death more than most people ⏤ and once you watched your father disappear from this world. You didn’t know it then (and how could you have?) but it would be a turning point in your life. You had a tough relationship with him, as you watched him beat your sister and get into shouting matches with your step-mother. Those long, hard nights are seared into your brain, and you may never forget them, but his death, far sooner than you would have liked, funny enough, has left a deep scar in your heart. You never got to have that hard conversation about pain, trauma, and forgiviness. So, you can only forgive him in your brain, and sometimes your brain plays tricks on you. Instead, you take your pain and knit it into the most colorful shawl that you’ll wear proudly until your own dying breath. Tragedy in life is vital if we’re ever going to grow and transform into the person we’re supposed to. So, I sit here furiously knitting, and it’s coming out beautifully.
Gemstones: “Gemini,” “Late Bloomer,” and “We Wither, We Bloom”
Honorable Mentions
Raye Zaragoza, Woman in Color (buy) | Emily Vu, Found EP (buy) | Izzy Heltai, Father (buy) | ThebandIvory, Anthropocene (buy) | The Aces, Under My Influence (buy) |Kesha, High Road (buy) | Karen McCormick, Retro EP (buy) | Charlie Fisher, Dollar Perfume (buy) | Glassio, For the Very Last Time (buy) | Zach Benson, hopeless, romantic. (buy)
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