Baker's Dozen: Cool Ghouls, Heavy Steppers, and a Few Left Turns

Baker's Dozen is a weekly thing where I share some music I've enjoyed lately in the form of a playlist, as well as some assorted thoughts around that music.

Overmono, "Clipper (Another 5 Years)"

Really like these guys, I remember reading at some point they're Joy O-adjacent? Would make sense. This track reminds me of Aphex Twin a little, especially in how that melody just drops in a little of the ways through.

ALASKALASKA, "Skin"

Thought a lot of the ALASKALASKA album from 2019 was pretty unremarkable on the whole, so much music sounds like it—but they occasionally hit on some interesting textures and ideas, this is one of them. Kind of has that post-Yeezus gnarliness to it.

Ty Segall, "Meaning"

I'm very a la carte with Ty Segall and have been forever now, with Goodbye Bread standing as his true album-length achievement for me. But i'm also finding myself "getting" his "thing" a little more lately, would be too much of a cliché to pin that on aging probably. I like how he's kept it fresh by doing something pretty different from album to album though, or track to track even. This, from 2017, is probably one of my favorite songs of his to date because it's such a curveball, in which his wife Deneé takes the mic and stomps through some awesomely gross-sounding hardcore riffs.

Eyeliner, "Pictures"

Another Doom Mix Vol. 5 cut. There's a whole swath of underground electronic music that skirts the line between reinvention and kitsch, this 100% falls in that gray area. As I type this I look up on the TV screen and the Spotify Xbox app is showing me an image that I can only describe as Eyeliner-as-Animorph, using the notorious K.A. Applegate-affiliated visual style to transform from a car into a human being. So, yeah, the whole kitsch line skirting thing, definitely present here.

Cool Ghouls, "In Michoacan"

Very unsurprisingly from San Francisco, ten years ago this'd get them a Playlist track on Pitchfork at the least. Wasn't into the whole album but, as with West Coast garage brethren Ty Segall, this stuff works more as singles anyway and I suspect whatever the 2035 version of Light in the Attic will be is going to compile a killer compilation of the SF stuff from, let's say 2008-beyond. (Tough on a level that I tend to fundamentally mistrust a lot of West Coast garage bands post-Burger allegations, but not their fault or mine.)

Joeboy, "Runaway"

Really like the Joeboy album, exquisite music. Strongly reminiscent of the awesome Fireboy DML album from last year too.

OMB Bloodbath, "Dropout" [ft. Maxo Kream]

Great beat, Bloodbath and Maxo both ride it perfectly. Love Maxo in general and very excited for his next project.

KYLE, "YES!" [ft. Rich the Kid and K CAMP]

Very funny sample here, flipping a song from the Drums both makes a lot of sense and no sense at all for a Sailing Team affiliate like KYLE. Obviously, this is more or less a collection of three questionably talented people, as in whether or not they are talented is extremely questionable. They gave KYLE his own Netflix movie that no one talked about at all except for a few hypebeasts on my timeline; I have no smoke with K CAMP and might've done a bio for him a few years back but who can remember at this point. Rich the Kid is risible at large and also an alleged domestic abuser. So no real wins here, but this track sounds a lot like something from 2008, no? Not really a win there either I suppose. Whatever.

Wallows, "Wish Me Luck"

Apparently one of the kids in this band is an actor, can you tell? Interesting to hear a few different types of corporate indie collide on one song, the kind of thing I'd end up Shazam'ing at H&M perhaps.

Heavy Steppers, "Me and Millie"

Beat is incredibly effective in all the bruising bass hits, I like how being on beat isn't really a concern here. It works.

tobi lou, "Endorphins"

Frank Ocean's influence on contemporary R&B and pop is both everywhere and sometimes hard to locate, but it's very obvious all over here. We're looking at a straight-up "Biking" rip here, right down to the goddamn cover art. "Biking" is more its own thing though, this opens up into a pleasing and smooth beat that helps it stand apart in its own regardlessly generic way.

Caribou, "Never Come Back (Morgan Geist Remix)"

I'm a huge fan of Morgan Geist and always have been, he's very good at clubby post-disco sounds and his productions sound clean and rowdy which is quite the balance to strike. About nine years ago he emailed me complaining about the lack of support and/or recognition he feels like he's gotten in general, which I get. Sometimes the greats are underappreciated!

Hovvdy, "Runner"

I guess Hovvdy have a new album out or coming out, right? I featured their cover of Coldplay's "Warning Sign" on here before, I feel like they have a really interesting sound in indie that makes them distinct even though there's a few obvious forebears (Photo Album-era Death Cab being the clearest one). Great song.