Beat the Champ, Mountain Goats, 2015, :45
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
A concept album about wrestling, and very specifically so, with references to cage matches, spectators in the rafters, faces turning to heels, and even name-checks of specific wrestlers. But also, an album very much about people and the choices they make and the connections and spaces between them. The song "Animal Mask," for examplw, is a very clever blend of a description of a wrestling match and a rumination on singer John Darnielle's new baby son, and "Unmasked" uses the metaphor of the wrestler dropping his character to explore how accurately we seen each other in general. The album is best when straddling these two worlds. Favorite tracks: "Foreign Object," "Choked Out," "Heel Turn 2."
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Blast From the Grassed, Hayseed Dixie, 2020, :41
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
The world's best bluegrass cover band takes on a dozen songs from various decades. I love pretty much anything these guys do, but I especially like it when they get goofy and fast. They've toned down the "dumb hillbilly" image a bit since their debut, but still can whoop it up. Favorite tracks: "You Need to Calm Down," "Take On Me," "Dancing Queen."
