Bandcamp Pick of the Week: CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW

It’s our Bandcamp Pick of the Week, this week highlighting the massive, 136 track, 10 hour compilation CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW, where 100% of the proceeds split evenly between Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, Rural Organizing and Resilience (ROAR), and BeLoved Asheville!

Cardinals at the Window Cover

Various Artists – CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW

Favorite Tracks: N/A

Genre: N/A

Curated and assembled by musician Libby Rodenbough, New Commute founder David Walker, and journalist Grayson Haver Currin, charity compilation CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW arrives in the wake of Hurricane Helene, where thousands still remain displaced and searching for basic necessities. 100% of the proceeds from the compilation will be split evenly between Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, Rural Organizing and Resilience (ROAR), and BeLoved Asheville, so that right there should make it the easiest $10 you’ve ever spent—I highly urge you to read the bio on Bandcamp, where both Currin and music industry journeyman Rusty Sutton eloquently talk about the personal and local impact of the storm. And while truthfully I don’t need to do much selling of CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW—hell, if you recognize the title, you probably already bought it sight-unheard earlier this week—I nonetheless wanted to take this weeks Bandcamp Picks to highlight some of the peaks here, because boy are there a lot of them.

At over 10 hours long and featuring 136 songs from a who’s who of artists both big and small, CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW is the rare modern compilation that feels like a necessary musical document as much as a vehicle for donations. Much respect to many other compilations I’ve even written about in this section, but they’re frequently fan service odds and ends (live cuts, covers, demos) as a means to an end. And I’d like to say: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But all too rare is a compilation that’s not only THIS big but also this chalk full of genuine unreleased tracks and B-Sides that feel essential if you’re a fan of the respective artists.

But let’s run through a few of them.

This compilation features one of the best MJ Lenderman songs I’ve heard to date; the eight minute track “Pianos” is a mesmerizing slow burn guitar number, with long solos and a sleepy, hypnotic rhythm section, hopefully a sign of things to come from the current hottest thing in rock.

This compilation features one of the best Real Estate songs of the last decade; “Pink Skies” is this dreary multi-layered track that recalls IN MIND’s best moments, with blurry harpsichord and their signature guitar tone driving towards pop catharsis.

This compilation features one of the best Deer Tick songs of the last decade; “Time To Leave” has a bite and crunch that has, perhaps, eluded some of the band’s recent work—if the ruckus tempo isn’t enough, it has basically a minute long building guitar solo that, pardon my french, fucking rules.

I’ll stop with the repetitive bit (okay one more for real, the Archers of Loaf cut “Great Holding Down” is better than anything on 2022’s REASON IN DECLINE), but trust me when I say there are high water mark original songs from, among others, Hotline TNT, William Tyler, Wye Oak, Lydia Loveless, and Les Savy Fav. And this is to say nothing of CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW as a form of music discovery—I did my best to get through most of the nearly 10 hours over the last few days and walked away with plenty to check out. Highlights for me included the lost-from-streaming Sylvie song “On The Wind,” just a gorgeous slice of Laurel Canyon inspired instrumental music that make me excited to check out more from Ben Schwab’s side project, and Fancy Gap’s “Starlight Motel,” a spacy alt-country waltz that sounds like if Fleet Foxes were a ‘50s prom band.

Tremendous live recordings of R.E.M., Fleet Foxes, Drive-By Truckers, a wonderful cover from Waxahatchee, stripped back and re-recorded bits and bops from Superchunk and H.C. McEntire… the list goes on. You were either sold looking at the track list or you weren’t, but consider this me throwing more support behind a pretty exciting collection of music. Be good to each other and grab a copy of CARDINALS AT THE WINDOW here.