Fall in Jackson Hole is a time to recharge and reset. The frenzied chaos of the summer months is behind us while the weather shifts into a cozier, gentler realm. Fluttering aspen leaves, crisp, ethereal mornings and a golden glow blankets the community as we recalibrate and start preparing for the long winter months ahead.
Because we strongly focus on music discovery here at KHOL, I wanted to gather a bunch of new tracks from both up-and-coming and established artists to accompany those shorter but still blissed-out days full of sunshine and reflection.
Below you’ll find the entire playlist along with my thoughts on a select few that stand out to me. Enjoy! – KnewJack, Music Director
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The Budos Band – Crescent Blade
The Brooklyn-born large ensemble The Budos Band — which includes a full horn line and multiple percussionists — are known for their unique instrumental blend of Afrobeat, funk, soul and psychedelic rock. Their new EP, “Frontier’s Edge,” is an avalanche of unruly power and subtle perfectionism with its polyrhythmic drum beats, growling bass and piercing guitars. The track “Crescent Blade,” infuses a propulsive kick-drum with surf rock and soaring trumpet blasts that sound like a call to arms.
As “Night Beats,” Texas-born and LA-based artist Danny Lee Blackwell incorporates numerous different influences and sounds into each of his releases. On his latest, “Rajan,” Blackwell combines the worlds of garage rock, outlaw country and psychedelia in what feels like a mind-altering Spaghetti Western film score. The album — titled after Blackwell’s middle name, meaning “king” in Sanskrit — is dedicated to his mother’s sense of freedom and individuality. With its captivating melody, hypnotic rhythm and largely acoustic instrumentation, “Anxious Mind” best exemplifies the mysterious and soulful feeling Blackwell is trying to evoke.
Reno, Nevada-based band The Sextones’ sound is steeped in late ‘60s and early ’70s soul. Paying homage to their heroes like Baby Huey, The Delfonics and Curtis Mayfield, the new record, “Love Can’t Be Borrowed,” is a sophisticated sonic love letter to those who came before them. After a years-long writing and recording process guided by producer Kelly Finnigan of Monophonics, the new album is a sincere celebration of the dizzying heights and emotional depths brought on by love of all kinds. The single, “Beck & Call,” is a slow-burning ballad built around a lush arrangement highlighted by the combination of singer Mark Sexton’s vulnerable falsetto and the band’s laser focus on old-school structure and musicianship.
Bay Area collective The Seshen blend electronic, R&B and indie pop into a richly textured sonic landscape that serves as the perfect platform for singer Latin St. Juste’s intoxicating and seductive vocals. At the center of the band is the relationship between vocalist St. Juste and bassist and producer Akiyoshi Ehara. When St. Juste came out as lesbian in 2020, it marked the end of her marriage to Ehara, but the beginning of a new phase in their creative partnership. Featured on the new album, “Nowhere,” the track “Hold Me” confronts the complexities of the relationship’s transformation with pulsing synths and a jagged beat that swirls around and propels St. Juste’s vocals into a dizzying yet centered place of understanding and connection.
Manhattan-based DJ/Producer Eli Escobar’s new record celebrates the return of New York nightlife with an abundance of future-facing optimism. Created in Rockaway Beach during the uncertainty of the pandemic when dance music was an afterthought, “The Beach Album”’s tracks are brimming with warm samples and classic drum machine rhythms that yearn for a return to movement and release. Similar to Escobar’s revered DJ sets, “The Beach Album” bounces all over the place with a calculated and effective trajectory, giving listeners a layered joyride with every rotation. Golden-era hip-hop beats, old-school house grooves, techno-tinged ravers and dirty disco balls all have a home on the uniquely NY-sounding record. The best example of Escobar’s eclectic style is on the album’s opening track, “Daywun,” which immediacy sparks up nostalgia with a vocal sample of Sugarhill Gang’s “Hot Hot Summer Day” riding over top an infectious deep house rolling bass line complete with ethereal synth sounds and triple-stacked hand claps. Bringing the beat back never felt so good.
