Baker's Dozen: Oneohtrix Point Never, Wilco, Dominic Fike, And—I Can't Believe I'm Writing This—A Sam Smith Song
Baker’s Dozen is a recurring weekly feature in which I share a playlist of songs I’ve been enjoying lately, along with commentary on said songs and artists as well as whatever else I want to comment on. Sometimes I’m listening to stuff that I can’t playlist because of streaming services, so I’ll start recommending that stuff in this little preamble. With that said I highly recommend Slikback’s /// and /// II, two great collections of harsh beats and intense soundscapes, as well as Discwoman and Allergy Season’s Physically Sick 3 compilation, which is also for a great cause.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/5WSKPbR7hYamja79iWPr00
Pallbearer, “Silver Wings”
My listening-to-music brain is stupid enough that even though I’ve never really gravitated towards Pallbearer’s music previously, I’m drawn to this 12-minute-plus epic from their latest album. Ah, life. Anyway, guess I should revisit those other Pallbearer albums.
Oneohtrix Point Never, “I Don’t Love Me Anymore”
The new OPN album isn’t my favorite of his but it’s still quite good, especially when it alternates between foggy pop mode and new-age abstractionism mode. This is probably the best pop song Daniel Lopatin’s done to date, it feels very ‘90s to me. I interviewed him for GQ around this album last year, read it here.
Sam Smith, “Kids Again”
Christ, is Sam Smith boring. Simply dreadful! Sam Smith is so boring that when I was just typing the subhed for this song, I typed it as follows without even thinking: Sam Smith, “Boring.” I wish I could say it’s been all downhill since “Latch,” but the overall trajectory is more like simply flatlining. Their new album is, unsurprisingly, not very good, but this closing track somehow stuck with me with its wistful simplicity. You don’t feel the weight of so much melodrama while listening to this, which is rare for them.
Wilco, “We’re Just Friends” / “Yee Haw” (10/29/99 Minneapolis soundcheck)
Wilco, one of the greats. Summerteeth is probably my favorite album of theirs at this point, so the new reissue was like candy to me. Love this sped-up soundcheck take of “We’re Just Friends,” makes me hear the song in a different light which is always a nice thing to experience with music you’re so familiar with.
The Style Council, “Long Hot Summer (Extended Version)”
Yup, I’ve been getting into The Style Council after that big box set that was released last year. Extremely up my alley. Expect, like, the next six Baker’s Dozens to have songs from The Style Council, and then deal with it.
Bruce Hornsby and James Mercer, “My Resolve”
Pretty good pairing if you think about it. Mercer’s work as the Shins on the last few albums have walked a line between the indie-pop he was already situated in and the smooth, polished adult-contemporary pop (not a knock in the slightest) he explored on the very underrated Port of Morrow. He certainly sounds better on here than on any of the Broken Bells albums, that’s for sure.
Mort Garson, “Kevin and Paige”
I enjoy the bubbly twists and turns this one takes. All I have to say about it really.
Duma, “Kill Yourself Before They Kill You”
These guys are intense. The whole record can be a bit much for me as a front-to-back listen, but something like this really rubs up against my ears.
Germ, “Brand New Rollie”
A great song off an album that’s up there with Armand Hammer’s Shrines in terms of amazing album covers from 2020.
Duval Timothy, “Slave” [ft. Twin Shadow]
Gorgeous album from Duval Timothy, I’ve highlighted his music here before. An album overall that keeps growing and growing on me, fascinating and entrancing.
Dominic Fike, “Cancel Me”
Ugh, Jesus Christ. What a horrible series of sentiments in this song!!!! “I hope I get Me Too'd”??? What kind of piece of shit says stuff like this?!? When I first heard this song on Fike’s mostly-dull debut album, I thought, “This is one of the worst songs of the year, easily…also it’s way too catchy.” Unfortunately, I woke up with the hook stuck in my head today. The way I see it, you either make a song like this because you believe what you’re saying or you want to provoke attention-getting reactions like the one I’m having right now. Either way, I feel terribly checkmate’d here. Fuck.
Aminé, “Burden”
Okay, I’ve calmed down a bit. Anyway: a lyric like “Yellow suit, yeah, I'm fly'/ Coldplay playin' Yellow live” is real IYKYK territory if you know me IRL or URL. I thought Aminé’s last project was decent but he obviously stepped it up on Limbo in a huge way, he’s striking the kind of balance that people once hoped for from Chance IMO.
Double Grave, “The Farm”
Feels vintage to me but in a way I can’t place…I’m not really talking about sound so much as feeling, the entire album feels like something I would’ve initially been resistant to when I was younger before eventually embracing, kind of like The Lemonheads’ It’s A Shame About Ray maybe? Great album. This one is solid too.