Baker's Dozen: Aimee Mann, Bad Bunny, and Limp Friggin' Bizkit

Baker's Dozen is a weekly thing for paid subscribers where I share a playlist of music along with some stray thoughts around all of it. I haven't sent one out in a while due to migration processes moving to this new platform, but guess what—all is back to normal now, so we're back on track.

Hey, Ily, "Projection Joins the Battle!"

Hey, Ily's Internet Breath literally does feel like breathing in...internet...breath. (Shaking the cobwebs off here, folks.) No but seriously, as you can tell from the cover art and RPG-referencing song title, there's a ones-and-zeroes element to these guys' whole deal, kind of like chiptune emo but not quite—maybe let's say direct kin of Guitar Fight From Fooly Cooly, except not as many Kingdom Hearts samples and Sonic the Hedgehog references. Good stuff, their record from last year is in the queue too.

Ben Seretan, "11pm Sudden Thunderstorm"

Some really nice ambient-piano-meets-field-recordings stuff here from Ben Seretan, a guy who I've always been aware of and have probably consumed more of his music than I realize...this is from Cicada Waves, definitely has that thousand-bugs-chirping-at-night feel to it.

The Temple, "Wolf in the Vortex"

I'm still very much a metal dilettante even as I listen to more of it than I ever did before, so I'm still in that "getting to know what I like, and why" phase...I didn't quite connect with The Temple's self-titled bow from 2021, but the end of this song kicks ass. Black metal from New Zealand! Who knew.

Limp Bizkit, "Dad Vibes"

Nothing hurts my brain more than Limp Bizkit making a very capable and well-executed comeback that surpasses the entirety of their recorded catalogue in quality alone. Still Sucks (lol) is the weirdest thought experiment no one expected Limp fucking Bizkit to make: What if you got the band back together, power-vacuumed all the misogyny out of your music, mostly cut it out with the low-register singing bullshit, and just stuck to the type of elastic, listen-up-y'all grooves that have been so prevalent in recent strains of sorta-nü-metal revivalist stuff? Also, what if there was a Limp Bizkit album where Fred Durst pretends to interview Wes Borland about how much he likes Godspeed! You Black Emperor? I almost got through this entire paragraph without making a Woodstock '99 reference. Almost.

Terrace Martin, "Evil Eyes" [ft. YG & Malaya]

YG feels extrordinarily washed at this point, but Terrace Martin capably brings the vibes here, incredible hook from Malaya here which is mostly what I'm here for.

The Gift, "Crashing Down"

Hey, after realizing how well this pick syncs up with the Frankie Rose interview from earlier this week, maybe I shouldn't feel too bad about how long this one was delayed...sorry it was so delayed though. The Sun Shines Here: the Roots of Indie-Pop 1980-1984 seems essential for anyone who's interested in connecting the far-flung dots that eventually led to the Slumberland/Sarah/Labrador axis that us die-hards worship today. I'll be sharing a few songs from it in recent weeks, easy to understand why I love this, kind of like the Smiths only without the whole "But that guy's racist now, right?" biz.

Aimee Mann, "You Could Have Been a Roosevelt"

I feel like I'm always saying to myself "When will Aimee Mann get her due?" even though she is, like, massively celebrated by tons of critics and has a pretty passionate fanbase. But somehow I feel like she's not beloved enough, purely because of how she seems to just pluck perfect-sounding songs from her head constantly...Queens of the Summer Hotel is another very good record from her, this song is almost like the easiest Aimee Mann song to love from it (as many of them are) but sometimes the easiest is the truest, too.

Bent Knee, "Fighting All My Life"

I listened to Bent Knee's (mostly kind of terrible) album Frosting out of context, as I do with a lot of music, and thought "What is this 2011-ass music doing in 2021, beyond headlining the Whozitwhatzit stage at Bonnaroo and slithering into countless barista playlists?" Obviously this type of music is still massively popular in a sense, really it kind of runs "indie" in general...I love how chewy the main riff is on this, they have five albums, perhaps there's more good stuff in the archives but I can't be arsed to dig through it at this time, decent song though.

Springtime, "The Killing of the Village Idiot"

(London on the Track DJ tag voice) You got Jim White on the track. Obviously I'd listen to Jim White over a goddamn T.a.T.u. record if he guested on it, and you probably would too. This Springtime record is some intense and earthy shit, and of course you should expect something so searing from a lineup like this (Gareth Liddiard of the Drones fame and Chris Abrahams of the Necks). Would hope that this trio continues to hit the stu, for the sake of good music.

Belle and Sebastian, "I Don't Know What You See in Me"

Peep the technique, go read my interview with Stuart Murdoch now. Insane how B&S are still able to come through with all-timers this far into their career, I saw someone pose the "Belle & Sebastian or Yo La Tengo?" question online recently and honestly, why pick, two legends.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, "20211201"

If you know anything about Ryuichi Sakamoto, you are probably aware that his latest album 12 will probably be his last released work, which is incredibly sad. Beautiful piece of music here, some other stuff I love on the album too, he is an absolute legend, not much more to say than that.

Bad Bunny, "Party" [ft. Rauw Alejandro]

Ever heard of this guy? Lol.

Ravyn Lenae, "Satellites"

Marking Ravyn Lenae's Hypnos in the "gentle disappointments" category, I loved her last EP and honestly expected more than I got songwriting-wise from this one... but that's OK. Good song here, I love those vocals that follow the chorus.