Sometimes what you really need is a slow song about sad days. Sometimes only the sound of a guitar strung slowly and the folk vocals of an indie assemble can save you from a dark and cold winter night. The German have a word for the melancholy caused by the state of the world: Weltschmerz. And that world maybe perfectly captures what The Collection gives us with their new single "Blue Day." The North Carolina-based septet wrote, recorded and released the perfect manifestation of that sneaky feeling of sadness that you just can't shake. When even in beautiful days, that feeling that something is wrong and the blues are just at bay lingers. The Collection spent 2020 making music that perfectly represents the uncertainty of our times and the feeling of figuring yourself out when nothing is the way it used to be. "Blue Day" is the epitome of that and it already rises our expectations about what 2021 will look like for the band. Photo by Cory Wood. 

All Things Blue was born in Los Angeles to the unburdened artistry of India Coombs, with help from her co-writer/producer, Jon Joseph. This year, they’ve released a kaleidoscope of alternative, post-genre singles in anticipation of their debut album, Get Bit. Though fearlessly awake, “Lully” is the perfect title for the psychedelic surrender that is their latest single, a deadpan ode to environmental catastrophe. Its opening lyrics don’t beat around any burning bushes. “Overgrow the apples, we’ll watch them turn to waste / Pack them full of chemicals, we love the taste.”

In a jazz-driven, groovy whisper, she continues to riddle truths about our potential agricultural future that few American artists have dared to touch. For a cynical generation that functions under distant shadows of those in power, a recurring choral sentiment like “It doesn’t matter anymore,” can be eerily inspiring, at least as a proclamation of urgent self-care. “Lully” asks its listeners to protect their inner peace as they continue to endeavor to subvert the blockaded systems in control of our agriculture.

“A Slow Return” is out ahead of Oakland-based There’s Talk’s third EP Great Falls, expected December 18; it’s a meditative, spellbinding audio journey through the psyche of singer/songwriter Olivia Lee, who pulls from her identity as a queer woman of Chinese heritage. You have to really listen to pick out individual lyrics, but spellbinding synths and lofty guitars create a sensory experience. Listening to “A Slow Return” feels like entering a fugue state, a velvet fog from which you may never want to return.

LA's Halo Kitsch presents a heartbreaking serenade about mixing up love and trauma with "Do You Feel Like a Sinner Yet?" Guilt, loss and PTSD are translated easily into the slow march of acoustic guitar, the rhythmic snapping and the quiet whistling. The song feels like a prayer for forgiveness delivered in a now-empty room that was once filled with hope, even if illuminated by gaslight. 24-year-old Katrina Kerns is not new to breakup songs or writing about being hurt by old lovers. What gives the new single a special place on her repertoire might be the feeling of a fresh wound that comes from the realization that the memories you thought you missed were just mutual harm, observed, first through pink, and now through grieving glasses. "Do You Feel Like a Sinner Yet?" is the fifth track from the singer-songwriter, who started sharing her truth this year and is only getting started.

I love this one, it’s the perfect bedroom pop-ish type of song. Aidan is one of the most passionate artists I’ve spoken to and this is def a hit! — Claire Rosinkranz

Follow Claire Rosinkranz on Instagram so you can stay up to date on her latest releases. And make sure you check out her music video for the newer version of "Backyard Boy" with Jeremy Zucker.

German singer-songwriter Felix Räuber exposes love’s intrusive side in his latest single, “Colors.” Minimalist, droning and orchestral, the track builds an echo chamber for pining verses and a chorus that gives full authority to the speaker’s love interest. “You even control the colors in my head,” he sighs in disdain, “You even control the choirs in my head.” Räuber surrenders his own sense of presence for a distant light projection. The genius here lies in the song’s tonality — ironically gray and chromatically chilled. Overall, it is a moment of silence for romance turned sour, interrupted by noise in the spirit of unrequited love’s persistent voice. Photo by Madlen Krippendorf. 

Today we are announcing In The Mix, our new collaboration with Desert Door Texas Sotol, supporting the music and food industries that have been devastated by the pandemic. In The Mix pairs artist-curated playlists, free merchandise and a discounted Desert Door cocktail with the purchase of a special restaurant creation from select partnering restaurants in Atlanta, Boulder and Nashville on December 7-14.

In Georgia our In The Mix artist is Athens-based singer-songwriter Kishi Bashi. He helped inspire the special dish from Atlanta's Talat Market — Thai-style sautéed bay scallop and persimmon warm salad, complemented by a Desert Door cocktail with Ancho Reyes Verde Chile, fresh pineapple and lime juice and agave.

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Listening to Kishi Bashi is comparable to floating through the most golden day that ever existed in the landscape of your favorite childhood storybook. “Penny Rabbit and Summer Bear” is a light and gleeful representation of the whimsical sound that Kishi Bashi is known for. With the delicate plucking of acoustic guitar accompanied by a soft stream of glimmering chimes, this track infiltrates the monotony of the day and creates within it a glimpse into a more pure, more courageous existence. This sentiment reigns true over all of Kaoru Ishibashi's musical inventions; there is a certain pureness and clandestine invitation into goodness surrounding his growing body of work. Photo by Rachael Renee Levasseur.

Today we are announcing In The Mix, our new collaboration with Desert Door Texas Sotol, supporting the music and food industries that have been devastated by the pandemic. In The Mix pairs artist-curated playlists, free merchandise and a discounted Desert Door cocktail with the purchase of a special restaurant creation from select partnering restaurants in Atlanta, Boulder and Nashville on December 7-14.

Nashville's In The Mix artist is indie singer-songwriter Becca Mancari. Nashville staple Butcher & Bee has put together a special dish inspired by Mancari's complex songwriting and Americana influence — charred octopus with fermented pepper sauce, broccoli rabe, charred citrus and a delicate blanket of country ham. Paired with the meal is a special Desert Door cocktail, the Mexican Queen, with blood orange juice, orange zest, ginger beer and lime.

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On "Bad Feeling," Becca Mancari's voice rings like a church bell, pure and clear and hanging in the air. “With your hands around my throat and I say baby, please, don’t” — she places each word carefully, as if it may break, but the music isn’t dramatic or intimidating. She has a bad feeling, but she doesn’t sound surprised. If anything, the music sounds laid-back, like a breeze streaming in the windows on a warm spring day. It’s soft-rock but in an intentionally sweet way. The nonchalant flavor is a stark contrast to the harsh lyrics: “Isn’t it hard when you see me for the first time and it breaks your heart?” After the second verse we enter what seems to be a bridge, but it’s really just the song deteriorating into voices, phrases, pieces of guitar and drums and bass harmonics echoing into the ether. Photo by Zac Farro.

Today we are announcing In The Mix, our new collaboration with Desert Door Texas Sotol, supporting the music and food industries that have been devastated by the pandemic. In The Mix pairs artist-curated playlists, free merchandise and a discounted Desert Door cocktail with the purchase of a special restaurant creation from select partnering restaurants in Atlanta, Boulder and Nashville on December 7-14.

Our Boulder artist for In The Mix is the beloved local rock band Big Head Todd and The Monsters. Blackbelly has crafted a special dish in homage to the band — koji-cured pork with sugarloaf chicory, pomegranate, charred leeks, pistachio crumble and pancetta. Patrons can complete the meal with the discounted Bitter Heart cocktail made with Desert Door sotol, cynar, lime, simple syrup and bitters. 

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To celebrate our collaboration, we are journeying back to 1993 with Big Head Todd and The Monsters’ “It’s Alright.” Off of these Colorado boys’ album, Sister Sweetly, this track is the epitome of every slow, swaggering jam this 90’s child grew up on; it’s riding in the back of my dad’s car on the way to school, sharing the same home-burned CD real estate with “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “Mother and Child Reunion.” The vamping guitar, relaxed, methodical groove and ever-charismatic vocals of “It’s Alright” come together to create a track that’s as perfectly at home as I write this from a rainy San Francisco as it always is onstage at their native Red Rocks. Big Head Todd and The Monsters have carved a truly timeless place for themselves in the rock genre over their impressive 30-year career together, and as evidenced by their 2020 release, We’re Gonna Play It Anyway - Red Rocks 2020 (Live), they’re, thankfully for all of us, as tight as ever.