Baker's Dozen: Camp Cope, Fog Lake, and Indie-Electro Conspiracy Theories
Baker's Dozen is for paid subscribers of Larry Fitzmaurice's Last Donut of the Night newsletter. It includes a weekly playlist along with some thoughts around the music he's (I've) been listening to lately.
Zíur, "It's Complicated"
Wasn't too into Zíur's 2019 album ATØ as a whole, but I thought this track sounded very cool, like if Nídia teamed up with the Knife or something. The album also features Samantha Urbani on vocals—'memba her?
Christian Lee Hutson, "Strawberry Lemonade"
"Pain is a way you can move through time/ And visit people that are gone in your mind/ And smooth over every wrinkle you find/ The truth can't hurt you if you know it's a lie." That's real, exactly the kind of "damn, it's true" lyric writing that I've come to value Christian for...his latest album Quitters took a minute to grow on me but it got there, I think he's just such a talented songwriter. Also remarkable how Phoebe Bridgers knows just what to add texturally when it comes to contributing vocals to a song that isn't hers. Maybe you remember that I interviewed him for this newsletter last year, here it is if you don't.
Bedouine, "The Wave"
Bedouine is one of my faves at this point, her don't-call-it-a-leftovers-collection third album Waysides from 2021 is full of gems like this one, as well as an excellent Fleetwood Mac cover. It's perhaps my version of musical comfort food when it comes to folk-sphere indie.
Margaux, "Smaller Home"
Listen to this song on SoundCloud.
Kind of a similar-but-different vibe from singer-songwriter Margaux's 2019 EP More Brilliant Is the Hand That Throws the Coin, I like the air of vaguely threatening mystery that cloaks this. It's been nearly four years, you gotta figure she's either prepping a new one or has (perhaps, given the state of the music industry, wisely) decided to pursue something different career-wise.
Shanti Celeste, "Want"
Pure vibes from Chilean DJ and producer Shanti Celeste, I featured a Caribou remix of hers last year or the year before as well.
Camp Cope, "Running With the Hurricane"
Maybe the best Camp Cope song to date thus far? Not everyone I know was hot on Running With the Hurricane, I think it was an intriguing new development for the band's sound in general and there were some inarguably strong songs on that, in general it seems unwise to bet against Camp Cope in the long run. I interviewed Georgia for the newsletter back in 2021, you can check that out here.
Soul Glo, "Thumbsucker"
Soul Glo, what a rush. In terms of crossover-hardcore records, Diaspora Problems was way more my speed than last year's Turnstile LP (which I enjoyed, but perhaps not as much as most people did). There's an undeniable sense of groove here, you have to be a very, very solid band to balance the ferocity and melodic flourishes competing for air time here. A few people in this band contribute to another band Nine of Swords whose bassist I know...they put out a great record last year, I'll be highlighting it in a future BD installment for sure.
Helado Negro, "Outside the Outside"
This Is How You Smile was the one that got all the accolades, but Far In remains my favorite Helado Negro album to date...he really hit on a winning formula of free-flowing texture and the kind of indie-tronica bounce that Caribou/Toro Y Moi/others have been similarly adept at. Very pretty and shimmering music on the whole.
Tashaki Miyaki, "Comedown"
Classic thing where I went into the 2021 album this song is from assuming it was made by one guy probably, and it turns out to be a band of white people. OK! If you know the type of shoegaze-y pop that's been popular over the last decade, you certainly know what you're getting here, it does the trick.
Wet, "Only One"
A long time ago, I referred to Wet as "industry plants" online, primarily because any positive coverage they'd received in music publications from, let's say, 2013 to 2016 was a direct result of having friends work at those music publications. The band's account fav'd the tweet, which I'm sure they thought was cute but sure didn't make the music any better. That was back in 2015 or 2016, I'm not sure I'd even send a tweet like that now, what's the point, aside from any potential generational wealth possessed (I'm not saying there is any, just that indie bands on major labels tend to sometimes come from things) bands like Wet don't make much money anyway so who am I punching at, exactly, even as I thought the music was mostly terrible. This song's not terrible though! It's not bad at all, actually.
Slow Crush, "Lull"
These guys toured with Deafheaven last fall, which makes sense since their strain of goth-y shoegaze—crunchy, a smattering of noise, but also going for total bliss oblivion stuff—is not dissimilar from what Deafheaven pursued on their last one. (I think Slow Crush do it a little better, though.)
Fog Lake, "Latter Day Saint"
Doing these posts, there's no real aim to say "THIS is the best song of the 13 I'm sending you this week"...that being said...THIS is the best song of the 13 I'm sending you this week. Fog Lake's put out a bunch of records on Orchid Tapes, the label run by Foxes in Fiction's Warren Hildebrand, their latest Tragedy Reel is the only one I've heard but I think it's just spectacular, a combination of the mesmerizing static glow surrounding Learning-era Perfume Genius and the electro-acoustic leanings that Hovvdy are constantly refining. Really special stuff.
Ross From Friends, "XXX Olympiad"
No point in changing the name now I suppose...Ross From Friends' Triad from 2021 was surprisingly solid, kind of the perfection of the "Radio 1 core" sound that hybridizes melodic bass, techno, etc etc etc. But! I'm a little QAnon about this record, because this track and the record's opening cut "The Daisy" sound almost identical with no real reason to so dutifully replicate a track's entire bones twice. What's the deal? Where's the news and the media?