Various artists
All Things Go: 10 Years
ATG/FUTURE MUSIC
For a decade now, the All Things Go festivals in DC and NYC have existed as the 21st century’s in-your-face response to 20th century parties such as the laid-back Lilith Fair and the pre-Drag Race sensation of Wigstock rolled into one—and without the confessionalism, high hair, and rave drugs indigenous to those other live affairs. To benefit the Ally Coalition’s nonprofit, founded by siblings Jack and Rachel Antonoff in support of LGBTQ+ youth everywhere, the new All Things Go: 10 Years compilation features new songs, B-sides, and original collaborations from the fest’s diverse, diversified wealth of artists (heavy on the female and non-binary tip), yet is oddly devoid of any actual in-concert recordings, something that may have provided this slim compilation with a little context.
Country-no-not-country diva Maren Morris kicks things off with a heartfelt, humorous, and poppy “Welcome to the End” before party-baller Kesha and Broadway’s newest Cabaret emcee Orville Peck raise the roof on their roots music’s history by turning their hunky “Tennessee” into someplace as kitschy as it is crunchy. From there, the harmony-driving team of googly eyes, Joy Oladokun, and Allison Ponthier bring together “Jesus and John Wayne” for one weird, long night’s campfire sing-along. Self-described “fluid bi girl” songwriter Maude Latour offers up a demo version of her homey “Green Tea” anthem, and the freshly made team of Medium Build and Sydney Rose’s reinterpretation (reinterBRATation?) of Charli XCX’s spin-class classic “Sympathy Is a Knife” becomes suddenly (and welcomely) spooky.
After that, a lot of the hot air goes out of the cool All Things Go guest list and the party winds down a little too quickly. But it’s still a good cause with a great lot of comrades having fun and doing good. And that’s always worth your money.
