Oof Records’ Class of 2020

I’m almost 2 weeks late, but I wanted to take some time to reflect on this past year in Oof history and also the year in general (including some of my favorite 2020 releases).

To quote the caption from a recent IG post:

Starting this label truly couldn’t have come at a stranger time, but we’re endlessly grateful for your support. Oof would be nothing without our ever-growing orbit! Thank you for being here to share in the joy of music and community during such a relentless year. Thanks to our stellar 2020 roster and comp contributors, we released 85 amazing songs. We also got to work with other really incredible creatives along the way! It all seems unreal and really gave us hope for a future beyond right now. Anyway, hope the new year is a happier one for you and yours. We can’t wait to share what else we’ve got in store for next year! Much love, Oof

Looking back at 2020, I really can’t believe that something like this took shape. Starting a label has been a dream of mine for quite some time, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that it would begin in the middle of a pandemic, with every meeting between myself, my co-founder David, the artists, and other collaborators, happening virtually. But if I’m being honest, Oof is way less about what was done in the process of creating it and more of a testament to the spirit of community that rocketed us into orbit.

That said, I’m completely indebted to David’s hard work in the early days (heck, we’re still in the early days) of the label, and believe that we’ve set Oof on the right track to keep creating room for sharing joy and good music, within a larger, scarier machine. We are still a tiny operation that relies heavily on teamwork between ourselves and the artists in our community. I hope the spirit of this never changes.

A look back on Oof Records’ Class of 2020:

Oof Records Compilation #1 - Various Artists

Qualia - David V Britton

“Send Me My Birds” - Vital Records

Semi Sweet - Highnoon

Know It All - Carmen Canedo

I’m Feeling Things - Harley Alexander

Oof Records Compilation #2: A Benefit for Emergent Works - Various Artists

Busted Sermon - Airhead DC

We also released 2 singles from the newly released debut EP, NEXT TO NOTHING, from Thank You Thank You…

“K P” - Thank You Thank You

“Heights” - Thank You Thank You

NEXT TO NOTHING - Thank You Thank You (OUT NOW!)

Okay seriously… how is all of this real?? Even though I know it all happened, my brain still has trouble taking in the fact that Oof really did get to be involved in releasing music from all of these incredible musicians. If you haven’t yet, please take my completely biased advice to spend some time listening to them—they’re all so remarkable in their own ways.

So here’s to you, Class of 2020! I’ll never forget you. Hope we stay friends 4ever xoxo

Here are a few of my favorite non-Oof releases from 2020 (in no particular order):

Hannah - Lomelda

Transfiguration Highway - Little Kid

Compare and Despair - Youbet

battery - sqip

Mydata - Katie Dey

Kind - Thanya Iyer

See You Tomorrow - The Innocence Mission

songs - Adrianne Lenker

Hit to Hit - 2nd Grade

how i’m feeling now - Charli XCX

As I’m sure it did with some of you, this year brought with it the additional struggle of making it difficult to listen to new music—my brain was stuffed to the brim with worry, causing me to draw even deeper into known comforts. If there are any albums you want to send my way that you think I’d like that came out in 2020, please feel free to email them to hello@oofrecs.com.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that Oof may have been one of the only things I had to look forward to when the world seemed like such a dark place to be… Seriously, thank you all for giving me a purpose and joy. I don’t know where I’d be without you.

Looking ahead at the horizon, we have some spectacular releases coming up. Sometime in the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing new members of the Oof family, so keep your eyes and ears peeled! We’re pinching ourselves over how lucky we are to get to work with such wildly talented folks and can’t wait for you to hear what we’ve got in store.

Again, thanks for being a part of this community and making it what it is.

With love,

Ava // Oof Records