Last year was a good one for Oakland-based label Royal Oakie Records, putting out a number of stellar releases. Credit Electric’s new full-length six offered “a diverse sound able to probe the full intricacies of suffering, resilience and recovery,” and Holy Matter‘s ‘Autumn Envy’ occupied “the liminal space between the real, emotional and spiritual, as though through loss and introspection, one can lead themselves towards uncanny places.” Then there was Water Words by Asha Wells, which caught our attention with its fluid, intimate brand of folk. “As if to mirror the turbulent conditions that birthed it, the record refuses to sit in one place,” as we wrote in our review. “From the noirish folk pop of opener ‘At Night’ to the vibraphone-based closer ‘Motorbike’, Wells moves through sounds and emotions like scenes in a dream, seemingly disparate thoughts and feeling united by an uncanny common thread.”
Royal Oakie also co-released Half Stack‘s Sitting Pretty alongside Forged Artifacts, an album which saw the Bay Area outfit evolve their sound in exciting new directions. “The record loosens its grip on the country aesthetic and in doing so allows all sorts of stylistic directions to show themselves,” as we put it last summer. “Psych rock, power pop, even a dose of honky tonk, each song opens up a new avenue to explore. But this unpredictability feels less like a band experimenting with possibilities as one finally able to embrace their fuller selves. The dusty cowboy aesthetic remains, but there’s more to Half Stack than that. Now they’re allowing their true spirit to shine through.”
To celebrate the year, Royal Oakie Records has released Greatest Hits of 2023, a compilation which collects the “fan favorites and deep cuts” from across their roster. All of the prior mentioned acts feature, as do Jeff Moller, Michael James Tapscott, Well Well Well, Whiskerman, Go By Ocean and Bard’s Flying Vessel. Listeners unfamiliar with the label can use this as the perfect primer, but equally, just as with Orindal Records’ recent compilation Powerful Forces Beyond Our Understanding, those already acquainted can come to appreciate the label more fully, with the chance to hear their artists back to back allowing fans to find the links and resonances between otherwise disparate projects.
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Greatest Hits of 2023 is out now and available from the Royal Oakie Records Bandcamp page.