Dig into this week’s Saturday Alternative playlist! The Fitting Room album was A Black Mile to the Surface by Manchester Orchestra, out now on Loma Vista.

Andy Hull and Robert McDowell of Manchester Orchestra recently joined me in studio here at WTMD, and one of the things they mentioned when talking about their new album was that they had to get away and remove themselves from their busy/happy lives, specifically from their families, to be able to write it. So, they left their homes and secluded themselves in a cabin in Asheville and got to work. Andy began putting together a broad concept – building characters and stories from both his personal experiences and fears, like that of fatherhood, and also from outside influences. Works of the Coen brothers entered his mind, and a “Fargoesque” world began taking shape. We sense that darkness throughout the record, from the moment we lay our eyes on the artwork and read the title, A Black Mile To The Surface. The songs don’t immediately hit you in the gut with driving guitars like in albums past, but that’s not to say there aren’t plenty of epic moments, and the band’s restraint only helps lift those moments even higher, making the album an incredibly moving piece as a whole.

 


 

hour 1

Slow Down – Art Feynman – Blast Off Through the Wicker

1998 – The Dears – Times Infinity, Vol. Two 

Cant Hold On – Black Lips – Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art? 

Grave Diggin’ – The Buttertones – Gravedigging 

Impossible Man – The Fresh & Onlys – Wolf Lie Down 

Super Natural – Turnover – Good Nature

Petals – TOPS – Sugar at the Gate 

New Thing (NOT CLEAN) – Lee Ranaldo – Electric Trim 

Private Party – She, Sir – Rival Island 

Death of a Football Manager – Little Cub – Still Life 

Neighbors – Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins 

Stale Smoke (NOT CLEAN) – Blis. – No One Loves You 

Vincent – Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial 

hour 2

All Hail – PINS – Bad Thing EP 

Better Find Out – Together Pangea – Bulls and Roosters

Rainbow Ridge – The Cribs – 24-7 Rockstar Shit 

Enter Entirely – Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound 

See Through – Splashh – Waiting a Lifetime

Little of Your Love – HAIM – Something To Tell You

Bird Brains – Holy F*** – Bird Brains EP 

Murdered Out – Kim Gordon

Arabian Heights – The Afghan Whigs – In Spades 

Don’t Delete the Kisses – Wolf Alice – Visions of a Life 

Asido – Purity Ring

Your Time – Nick Murphy – Missing Link 

Californian Light – Childhood – Universal High 

Valley Boy – Wolf Parade – Cry Cry Cry

Harry Potter – The Whistles & The Bells

hour 3

Under the Sun – DIIV – Is The Is Are 

Takin’ Over – Humming House

—10

Sorry Is Gone – Jessica Lea Mayfield – Sorry Is Gone

From A Soon-To-Be Ghost Town – Fruit Bats – Absolute Loser 

Down the Line – Beach Fossils – Somersault 

Sensitive Guy – Baio – Man of the World 

—FITTING ROOM–

The Moth – Manchester Orchestra – A Black Mile To The Surface

Lead, SD – Manchester Orchestra – A Black Mile To The Surface

The Alien – Manchester Orchestra – A Black Mile To The Surface

Moonshine Freeze – This Is The Kit – Moonshine Freeze 

Dama De Lavanda – The Paperhead 

Planets – Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Choir of the Mind 

All the Pretty Girls – The Darkness – Pinewood Smile Deluxe