Dig into this week’s Saturday Alternative playlist! The Fitting Room album was Wide Awake by Rayland Baxter, out now on ATO Records.
Rayland Baxter spent some time here in Baltimore when he was a student at Loyola University, where he played Lacrosse. At this point in his life, he didn’t have his mind set on a music career – but the music is in his blood, and in the end, is his calling. The son of pedal steel great Bucky Baxter – a go-to player for Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams, Steve Earle and others – you’d have to assume Rayland’s musical ability and sensibility as a songwriter is completely natural. He’s been known to go on about how has “no idea what he’s doing,” but when you see him perform live, and listen to the masterfully crafted tunes on his new album, Wide Awake, it makes you question that statement. That said, he did have a master with him in studio for this one, enlisting Butch Walker to produce the album, and what we’ve got is a tight, focused and fresh sounding collection of songs.
–hour 1—
Just Business – Bass Drum of Death – Just Business
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Body Behavior – Ty Segall & White Fence – Joy
Running – Bully – Losing
The Rover – Interpol
Double Down – Slothrust – The Pact
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I Dreamt We Spoke Again – Death Cab For Cutie – Thank You for Today
All I Want – Ride – Weather Diaries
Warm and Low – Quicksand
Kill Me – Dead Soft – New Emotion
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Burnt Out Star – Pond
Sanctuary – Super City – Sanctuary
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Standing on the Corner (NOT CLEAN) – Warmduscher – Whale City
Sierra Blanca – Matthew Logan Vasquez – Texas Murder Ballads
–hour 2—
Strange Effect – The Shacks – The Shacks EP
Jeannie Becomes a Mom – Caroline Rose – LONER
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Los Lonely Girls – Sweet Spirit
Phantom / Island – Hearts Hearts – Goods / Gods
Ultimatum (feat. Fatoumata Diawara) – Disclosure
Dark Heart – Tunng – Songs You Make At Night
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Mapache – Cari Cari
Like a Motherless Child – Moby
Quarrel – Moses Sumney – Aromanticism
Clad In Skin – Trevor Powers – Mulberry Violence
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If Not Now When – Aaron Lee Tasjan – Karma For Cheap
Under the Wheels – Dr. Dog – Critical Equation
Personal Best (feat. Cory Wong) – Alex Preston
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Gap Year – Phantastic Ferniture – Phantastic Ferniture
Wings of Ra – Golden Dawn Arkestra – Children Of The Sun
–hour 3–
California Finally – La Luz – Floating Features
Water – Ohmme – Parts
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Carry Me – Everything Is Recorded
Sisters – Natalie Prass – The Future and the Past
It Was Not Natural – Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs
Ride – ISLAND – Feels Like Air
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—-FITTING ROOM—-
Strange American Dream – Rayland Baxter – Wide Awake
Amelia Baker – Rayland Baxter – Wide Awake
Everything To Me – Rayland Baxter – Wide Awake
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Get Gone – Mikaela Davis – Delivery
The Underdog – GUM – The Underdog
Solitude – Kendl Winter – Stumbler’s Business
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Night Shop – Optiganally Yours – O.Y. in Hi-Fi