by Riley McShane, Contributor

Cut Worms: “Nobody Lives Here Anymore” 

This record fully took over my life when it finally came out. The great Max Clarke, as Cut Worms, has kept my attention since 2017’s Alient Sunset. It seemed like he was determined to give us this album in bite-size pieces, doling out a series of singles throughout the year. But taken all together, the 17-song double album is a towering achievement. There’s not a weak track of the bunch, each song feeling like it was constructed carefully, no detail overlooked. To me, it was Clarke delivering on the promise of his earliest releases. As soon as I finished my first listen on a sunny Friday afternoon in October, I ran it back immediately, and have gone back numerous times through the remainder of this year; always satisfied, always wanting more.

Liv.e: “Couldn’t wait to tell you…”

My introduction to the producer and singer/songwriter known as Liv.e (pronounced “Liv”), as I believe was the case for many listeners, was her feature on Earl Sweatshirt’s Feet of Clay. This led me to her stellar 2018 EP Hoopdreams, but I began to notice her presence on multiple projects from other signature artists in the fertile section of experimental hip-hop/r&b. Then at the height of the summer came her incredible full-length debut. Only 2 of the 20 songs on the double album are longer than 3 minutes, but every aspect of this project is an announcement of an artist to be reckoned with. Mixing elements of jazz, spoken-word, and soul, Liv.e created a project to get lost in. On each listen, I discover something new - a lyric, a bit of production, a feeling - it’s a joy to step in and get lost in this record for a while.

Holy Hive: “Float Back to You” 

Holy Hive is a band I have fallen head over heels for. The combination of the soulful instincts of drummer Homer Steinweiss and singer/guitarist Paul Spring’s folk roots creates a uniquely uplifting sound. I was lucky enough to see them play 2 excellent shows in the brief, happy period known as January through February 2020. I knew then that they were working on their full-length debut, and the prospect of its release was one of the few beacons on the horizon of a year that became hopelessly bleak. Tracks like “Oh I Miss Her So” will crawl into your heart, warm it up, and stay a while. The album becomes surprisingly moving in its back-half, highlighted by a gorgeous rendition of an old Irish folk song “Red is the Rose.”