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