Baker's Dozen: Iron & Wine, underscores, Perfume Genius

This is a free post from Larry Fitzmaurice's Last Donut of the Night newsletter. Paid subscribers get one or two email-only Baker's Dozens every week featuring music I've been listening to and some critical observations around it, along with a Screen Memories column every one or two weeks where I write about stuff I watched lately.

And the very thing that form copy is describing is what you're seeing right in front of you—only, it's for free! For now, at least...as previously mentioned, a lot of the stuff that would typically be behind "the paywall" will be free for the next four days in order to give new potential subscribers an idea of what they'll be getting if they take part of the fabulous "birthday layoff" sale I'm currently running.

And what is that "birthday layoff" sale, you ask? We're talking 39% off the first six months of a monthly subscription, or the same discount off of a year of the annual subscription. You can grab the monthly sale ($1.83/month) here, and the annual sale ($18.30) here. You won't regret it, and you'll be keeping this 100% independent publication alive and well, too.

Now, for the uninitiated, a brief explanation of what the "Baker's Dozen" actually is: Once or twice a week, I send out a playlist of stuff I've recently spent some time with that came out over the last five or six years, along with critical observations made about said stuff. If you want a slightly more involved explanation of the methodology that goes into putting the Baker's Dozens together, you can head right here. In the meantime—if you like what you see here, make sure to grab that subscription sale so you can keep seeing it when it goes back to being for paid subscribers only. OK, on with the show:

Iron & Wine, "Wait Up" [ft. I'm With Her]

As a longtime Sam Beam Appreciator, I feel like I've been weathering somewhat incredulous reactions regarding my appreciation since, what, The Shepherd's Dog? For a particularly incurious swath of millennial music-hearers, I think he was seen as something of a novelty due to this fine (but, compared to the original, ultimately inferior) cover, but the Iron & Wine catalog has only grown over the last 20-plus years in regards to his lush and sometimes surprisingly earthy arrangements, as well as That Gossamer Voice that drew so many people in circa Our Endless Numbered Days (which I suppose can still be seen, for all rights and purposes, as his "best" album, or at the very least his most broadly impactful in terms of growing a listener base). This year's Hen's Teeth was more solid than the last few when it comes to both of those elements, this highlight featuring vocal power-trio I'm With Her (that's Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan, and Sara Watkins, all three of whom I've sung the praises of here at various points) pushes the dreamier side of the Iron & Wine sound very much blissfully into the red.

Gavin Turek, "SIMPLE REASONS"

A lot of Gavin Turek's 2021 debut MADAME GOLD is the same nü-disco sound that was being driven into the ground during the early 2020s; that stuff always finds an audience of sorts but if there's not a novel twist or a psychedelic steeliness applied to the sound, it typically bores me to tears...perhaps that's why this somewhat simmering tune stood out to me amidst all the spangly garb otherwise offered up, I especially like the gently swooping low end that acts as melodic bedrock for the track itself.

Clairo, "Juna"

The first time I spun through Charm, this was the track that made me realize Claire Cottrill had done something very special with her third album...the chorus on this one is just one gorgeous, nearly-wordless psychedelic swirl, and it somewhat daringly opens the song itself! Alongside being one of my absolute favorite tracks from this album, the plush sound of "Juno" is a testament to her collaboration with Leon Michels across the album, a really good example of two smart musicians finding each other and making something incredibly appealing out of their merged sensibilities. I really liked this Charm-era profile of Clairo from Sophie Kemp, and the way Michels talks about working with her stuck in my mind long afterwards too, he seems to have been genuinely impressed by her level of assertiveness at such a young age—which, you don't make three excellent records in a row on the strength of pure luck alone.

Durand Jones & the Indications, "I Can See"

Last year a friend with good taste had mentioned seeing these guys in Salt Lake City (everyone's going to Salt Lake City these days!), and I'll confess that there are so many bands these days with names not dissimilar to "Durand Jones & the Implications" that I not only didn't know who they were but mistook them for some sort of rootsy alt-Americana thing...of course, after spending recent time with 2021's Private Space, they're very much doing a retro-soul thing (not unlike what Leon Michels is known for) and they're quite good at it, this is the type of stuff that's generally without fault primarily because it sounds spotless and lovely in its own right.

Caterina Barbieri and Bendik Giske, "Persistence, Buds"

Caterina Barberi and Bendik Giske are, without a doubt, two of the most reliable left-field musicians working right now; I had the honor of doing a bio for Bendik specifically way back in the mid-to-late 2010s and could tell that he was going to have a very special career, and he's since zigged and zagged with his sax-twisting sound in a way where he's managed to never quite repeat himself, no small task. Longtime readers know that I've also been entranced by Caterina's scintillating and altogether dramatic approach to synth arpeggiations across this decade, and hearing these dual sensibilities merge on this year's At Source made for one of 2026's best left-field records so far. For this track specifically, I love how Caterina's very identifiable sound and approach has been tweaked and even slowed down a bit, her pointillist synth-programming style crawling and yawning with languid beauty; what a sound to behold. When it comes to Bendik, I'll feature another track from a prior project some time in the future as well.

L Devine, "Die on the Dancefloor"

I featured Whitley Bay-hailing pop aspirer L Devine's "Worship" on here a while ago, the song's been scrubbed from streaming services since (crazy how often that happens lately) but if you're curious here's a live rendition of it...I also liked this cut from 2021's Near Life Experience Part Two, SG Lewis had nothing to do with this track but on a level it reminds me of something he'd cook up.

underscores, "Music"

Incredible opening lyrics here: "Last night/ I had a wet dream 'bout the perfect song/ Opened my eyes and forgot all of the notes/ By any chance, do you know how it goes?" U is far and away my favorite album of 2026 so far, I have listened to it constantly since it came out, it makes total sense that it took six years for someone such as underscores to fully alchemize the raw potential of digicore-slash-hyperpop into something equal parts virtuosic and melodically toothsome, listening to her music is like riding a rollercoaster in your own mind. I'll feature a few more U tracks here in the weeks to come for the sake of unpacking why this record continues to blow me away.

Samantha Crain, "Bloomsday"

Shawnee-hailing Choctaw Nation singer-songwriter Samantha Crain returned last year with her first release in four years, the full-length Gumshoe; I still need to check it out but I'm definitely intrigued if only because of how this track from 2021's I Guess We Live Here Now has stuck in my craw, at first blush it scanned as fairly ordinary to me but the way her voice twists and winds around the chorus really gets me, the "This little light of mine" interpolation is the type of thing that would typically take me out of something like this but I think she pulls it off quite effortlessly here, too.

Perfume Genius, "Body of Evidence"

Sometimes the best cuts appear on deluxe releases these days, which is certainly the case with this spectral song that popped up earlier this year on the extended release of Perfume Genius' 2025 record Glory. In terms of texture and feeling, this is definitely up there with Mike's best work to me...Mike is part of the two-timers club when it comes to this here newsletter, you can read his 2020 interview here and our 2024 chat right here.

Aaron Dilloway and Lucrecia Dalt, "The Blob"

Lucrecia Dalt, cool artist, but none of her recent solo releases have connected with me the way that her 2021 collab with veteran noisenik Aaron Dilloway (the very matter-of-factly-titled Lucy & Aaron) has...similar to the Barberi and Giske record, just a good example of two left-field artists coming together and merging very outré sensibilities in a way that's quite satisfying. This cut in particular is very Peaking Lights-flavored to me; shout out to Tone Glow's Joshua Minsoo Kim for arranging the Texas Chainsaw Massacre screening at Anthology last year with Dilloway performing beforehand, I dipped once the projector started breaking down (I've seen the movie plenty of times before, only so many hours in the day, etc) but Dilloway's performance beforehand was truly electric, I wish I could've had the endurance to catch his live score near the end that friend-of-the-newsletter Colin Joyce raved about later to me but, hey, you can't catch evertything.

Bruno Mars, "Cha Cha Cha"

When I appeared on How Long Gone earlier this year (shout out to longtime paid subscriber Chris Black, I see you), one of the more provocative moments was me asking Chris and Jason what they thought about Bruno Mars, talk about your strong reactions...I have a soft spot for this extremely hammy goofball who loves getting arrested for blow and allegedly racking up insane gambling debts, in an age of everything-old-is-now-new-again I find his full-tilt into sepia-hued nostalgia bait to be consistently endearing and even sort of thrilling, at the very least everything from 24k Magic on certainly beats the hell out of "The Lazy Song"! This year's The Romantic was a surprisingly defeated-sounding record from a guy who typically exudes ebullience for better or (mostly) worse, I did enjoy this lounge-y cut and it's lodged itself in my head somewhat but I won't pretend he's even close to the peak of his career at this point, if anything his star seems to be fading slightly unless he stages another drastic reinvention before the decade closes out.

HIGHLIGHT, "Sorry"

Another installment in the 2021 K-pop Survey, this K-pop boy band used to be called Beast, in case you were Googling this (like me) and found yourself slightly confused...I like the glassy-eyed environs here from their 2021 EP The Blowing, what stands out to me most here is the chipmunk'd vocal samples running throughout, constantly ticking in the background like a baseball card stuck in the spokes of a bike (do kids still do that now?).

SoFTT, "Kiero K Me Kieras (Regal86 Remix)"

SoFTT's "Kiero K Me Kieras" was one of my favorite songs of 2023 period, expect it to pop up on that best-of list when i compile it in, what, 2028? I'm working as hard as I can over here...I never got around to sharing the embarrassment of riches that was the remix collection from this single, I love this absolute rush of a remix from Monterrey's own Regal86—who, by the way, owes me some answers to email questions for this newsletter, no pressure!