Baker's Dozen: Kasper Marott, The Dirty Nil, Rebecca Black, and More Hyperpop Than You Could Ever Ask For
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. Lot of hyperpop this week, whatever that means (I do think it means something at this point, fwiw).
https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/2xydXFv0RAGtcYs7I7pXxl
28th Day, “Pages Turn (Alternate Version)”
Another one from the jangle comp. The original version of this song is clearer, faster, and a little more aggressive—not better or worse, necessarily, although I prefer this take. Obviously, a lot of “this stuff” would’ve fit in well with the Brooklyn early-2010s Captured Tracks crowd. Me and Kip Berman talked about that scene a little last week if you want to check it out.
Kasper Marott, “Mini Trance”
Kasper Marott released one of my favorite songs of 2019 (on the great Kulør label, no less). It was also 14 minutes long. This cut from his recent album (which, on the whole, is just okay) is kind of perfectly titled in that respect—it’s his brain-stretching psychedelic approach in quasi-miniature (nearly six minutes long—this is dance music, after all). More proof that trance continues to just be in the air, too.
brakence, “sauceintherough”
One of my favorite videos of 2020, for starters. Full disclosure: I tried to interview Daniel Jordan K, who directed this clip and a lot of work for other hyperpop-ish artists, but his management said they’d rather wait for a bigger look or something. I wish them the best of luck! It’s not like Pitchfork is covering this stuff meaningfully, FADER is [redacted], so…what, exactly, they are waiting for eludes me, unless they’re the type that still considers Complex a “look.” Anyway! It sounds like I’m bitter, but I’m really not. I just love his style, and I love brakence too. This song is probably my favorite solo cut of his.
Barry Gibb, “Run to Me” [ft. Brandi Carlisle]
Brandi Carlile really freaked it on this. A few good covers overall from this Barry Gibb thing, Little Big Town bring the heat as they sometimes do.
Rebecca Black, “Friday (Remix)” [ft. Big Freedia, Dorian Electra, and 3OH!3]
Speaking of freaking it…bow down to 3OH!3 here for delivering the best blink-and-you’ll-miss-it guest appearance since Fergie laced Kanye West’s “All of the Lights.” Dylan Brady of 100 gecs handled this one (as he did multiple tracks on this week’s Baker’s Dozen, including the aforementioned brakence song), and I do continue to find his aesthetic not only appealing, but toothsome in the way the best pop is. Even though he dips in and out of the hyperpop waters and collaborates with a lot of those artists, I also don’t really associate his thing or 100 gecs as a whole with the sound that loosely hangs on the genre term, which to me is more a mix of Lil Peep, Midwestern emo, and PC Music glitchcore than 100 gecs’ all-in-one-blender splatterhouse approach.
Nancy, “Don’t Pass Me By”
Wasn’t too into the album in general, but this would’ve 100% been a blog hit between 2008 and 2011. Someone would’ve compared it to Women, probably (the funhouse keyboards on this do have a little bit of a Cindy Lee vibe, too).
glaive, “dnd”
Probably Ash’s best pop song to date I reckon. He’s 16 now, feel free to revisit my interview with him when he was 15. I’ve since done his artist bio, full disclosure—but even if I didn’t, I’d still think he was a very intuitive and interesting songwriter.
Flux Pavilion, “Somebody Else” [ft. GLNNA]
The latest album from Flux Pavilion (who is typically not very good) tones down the big-box stuff for starry-eyed soundscapes, and I’m sure if you asked him point-blank why he’d probably cite COVID. But I actually think this gorgeous song, as well as the album as a whole, is just more evidence that Porter Robinson’s Worlds continues to influence mainstream electronic music very meaningfully.
glaive and ericdoa, “cloak n dagger”
One weird thing about following these hyperpop kids (strong emphasis on “kids”) is that they’re growing up in front of our very eyes. Both glaive and ericdoa sound totally different here than on previous material, both an assumed artistic maturity and (assumedly) the fact that your voice and body changes when you’re an adult. I mean, glaive is like eight feet tall or something in his latest video. Anyway. Love this song, love glaive’s Untitled Goose Game-esque sweater.
The Dirty Nil, “Doom Boy”
Great songwriting, great chorus, real cutoff t-shirt pop-punk hours here. Whole album is a little much for me but this song kicks ass.
glaive, “astrid”
Maybe my favorite glaive song period, someone actually named their kid Astrid after it recently according to glaive’s Twitter. Wild.
Silver Sphere, “football game”
Deceptively tender and sincere, just an absolutely brilliant pop song from (checks notes) Frankie Cosmos’ cousin? Produced by Dylan Brady again, in case you couldn’t tell from that steamroller synth that comes in after the chorus. The previous Silver Sphere material was much blander than this, obviously this is the road she should be going down.
ericdoa and brakence, “thingsudo2me”
The Lil Peep-Midwestern emo collision (which Lil Peep already pulled off himself, to be fair) is none more apparent than on this track. My favorite brakence verse to date, I just want to isolate this series of lyrics because of how potent they are:
“Hide me from the rest of the world
I don't want no boy and I don't want a girl
Cuz I want self love can't get over that hurdle
I'm afraid what to say when I finally feel hurt
Don't make me disgusted
Won't open up cause we already discussed it
Tried letting go but I guess I don't got the guts yet
So I'll put all my anger into a drum set”
brakence is in general super fascinating to me—his lyrics approach cringe at times (see also: ericdoa) but there seems to be this brutal honesty he embraces that is very diaristic and impossible to look away from. He’s already collaborated with blackbear, here’s hoping he takes a slightly different path than blackbear.