Jeff Rosenstock has released four home recordings of new songs as 2020 DUMP to his Bandcamp page. The EP features contributions from former Bomb the Music Industry! bandmate Laura Stevenson and Jeremy Hunter a.k.a. Skatune Network. Stevenson’s singing appears on “DEBT OF FINANCE,” “COLLAPSE!” and “DONE DONE DONE.” Hunter added horns to “COLLAPSE!” and “ACAB.”
Rosenstock said he’d keep adding recordings to 2020 DUMP as he records them, “Yoooooo I have been recording stuff at home and I’m going to continue to post it here. Hope ya like it.” He called these tracks “Tracks 1-4,” saying that they’d all been recorded in July. The songs released so far deal with relevant 2020 issues surrounding the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests.
Each of the tracks has a different sound from the others. “DEBT OF FINANCE” builds around the phrase “It has been a terrible year” into an indie style anthem. “COLLAPSE!” is a laid back electronic reggae song. “ACAB” is an acoustic ballad ending with Hunter’s horns. “DONE DONE DONE” is a slightly noisy rock track.
Rosenstock has had a busy year. He released his latest studio album in May, called NO DREAM. He also added some music for Craig of the Creek that he released as a ten minute soundtrack release. He’s been playing plenty of livestreams too, trying to raise money for charities. This month he’s already appeared on two compilations, one called Exquisite Corpse in support of the MusiCares organization and another called Save Stereogum: A ‘00s Covers Comp, which has a descriptive enough name. Laura Stevenson also appears on the Stereogum fundraiser.
The Bandcamp description for 2020 DUMP also encourages donating to charity, “Please do not feel obliged to spend money on this music. I do not intend for it to be monetized. Any money that comes in through Bandcamp for these songs will be donated to charitable causes, but less money will get taken out if you just do that directly on your own – which I encourage you to do if you can afford it. And if not, it’s cool.”