Baker's Dozen: JP Saxe, Pell, Benji
Today's Baker's Dozen is a free one to give everyone a taste of what you get when you subscribe to the newsletter on the paid tier—and, hey, whaddya know, I'm also currently running a subscription sale to mark the newsletter's five-year anniversary! On the monthly level, I'm offering a 25% discount on the usual rate—that's $2.25—for the first five months, which you can grab right here. If you're looking for an even bigger deal, I'm also offering a 25% discount on annual subscriptions—$22.50, specifically—which you can grab right here.
One more note—I am going on a bit of a vacation trip over the next week, not likely that I'll be running any interviews while away but I have plenty planned, I like keeping up with the Baker's Dozens when I can so you may still be getting those in an uninterrupted fashion. Either way, I'll be back home mid-next week so it'll be business as usual by the time next week closes out.
Porter Robinson, "Mirror"
Porter Robinson's SMILE is one of my favorite records of the decade period, it'll be a while before I properly break it down on here still but I listen to it all the time...I've been a fan of Porter since Worlds (I managed to squeeze in a Pitchfork review of it, the score was the best I could get them to agree to), Nurture is probably the slightest record in his catalog to me but I still enjoy it, it's funny that the record has TEED on it because the breakdown in the back third is very TEED. I wonder what he'll do next, to me he's a true generational talent who seems capable of anything, we'll see.
Motorists, "Through to You"
This decade has seen something of a golden age when it comes to resurrecting power-pop (and, in the case of Alvvays, mislabeling it—they're indie-pop, people), this Toronto trio seems to do it very right on their 2021 record Surrounded, right down to the office-stiffs promo photos...they put out a record last year that I still need to check out.
Homesafe, "With You"
Not really grunge, not even grungegaze, just extremely '90s, even moreso than that Motorists song I just dropped above which literally namechecks Automatic for the People...I respect the buttheaded-ness of this song from these Chicago guys, massive chorus too, definitely the highlight of their sophomore record Nervous Reaction from 2021 (still cleaning out some 2021 stuff in this one, yes—next BD will be a bit more chronologically diverse), they've been pretty quiet since.
Manic Street Preachers, "Afterending"
These guys have put out more albums than most bands and I still have almost never listened to them or have any real knowledge of their deal beyond "their original singer went missing in the '90s and definitely seems like he's dead now," will confess I filed them in the Stereophonics bin of "British rock I can't be arsed to care about" and even though I think that's been an accurate read I did weirdly enjoy their ten thousandth album (ok, it's actually their 14th) The Ultra Vivid Lament, the best tunes are big and corny and melodic and very British-sounding...they just dropped another one this year, guess I'll be checking that out at some point.
BIG30, "Pressin'" [ft. Quavo and Moneybagg Yo]
Before BIG30's 2021 debut King of Killbranch he popped up on Pooh Sheisty's "Neighbors" and apparently got in trouble for clout-chasing in Gucci Mane's IG DMs....I thought this record was indistinct but totally fine, this song stood out to me purely because it feels like a Migos castoff beyond the obvious Quavo-ness of it all, the beat would've fit in perfectly on Culture.
JP Saxe, "SAFE"
The sole non-2021 song on this installment and it feels cursed as hell regardless...JP Saxe is one of those people who you see his name a thousand times and still say "Who?" every time, I've personally mistook him for JD Beck (another person I don't really care about) multiple times, he's written a lot of songs for people you probably don't care about very much. I think this song from his recent record Articulate Excuses is probably a better Francis and the Lights-like than anything from that miserable Bon Iver record, the rest of the album (JP's, not Vern's) is completely embarrassing, whether it's song titles like "BADDIE WITH A VAPE ADDICTION" or the actual contents of a song called "SMARTPHONE MAKE ME DUMB," which is a heavily favored frontrunner for my Worst Song of 2025 competition at the moment.
Dntel, "Connect"
One thing I found quite heartening was seeing Dntel's Life Is Full of Possibilities pop up on DJ Python and Nick León's Pitchfork Perfect 10 videos, obviously Give Up gets a lot of the monocultural credit but it's clear that the micro-pop of Life Is Full of Possibilities has made a lot of waves over the years as well, I thought Jimmy's very good 2021 record Away had a similar feel to that record, which was a bit of a surprise since he's generally explored a lot of different territory across the Dntel discography. I had Jimmy on the newsletter back in 2021, you can read that right here.
Material Girl, "Drujjha (Interlude)"
The last Material Girl song I featured here was splayed and ugly-sounding (in a very good way), the stuttering gait of this title cut from his 2021 release Drujjha is way more soothing but still a little off-kilter, which is exactly why I've found the Philadelphia-based producer/rapper's work so fascinating to explore recently.
Pell, "Waves" [ft. Tonina]
New Orleans-hailing rapper Pell was a thing through the 2010s that I wasn't too aware of, he's been very quiet this decade but his last release Floating While Dreaming II from 2021 was pretty solid, I think this track is gorgeous and that's heavily because Tonina sounds so good on the hook.
Cold Beat, "Mandelbrot Fall"
Cold Beat popped up on the Best Songs of 2020 list and I think that their final record WAR GARDEN was even better than its predecessor, good example of a band that you wish wasn't done simply because what they do is sturdy, reliable, and always pleasurable to listen to.
Kareem Ali, "Euphoria"
As I mentioned in a prior BD, I'm spending some time excavating the gems from Kareem Ali's sprawling catalogue over the course of the next few installments; this one is from his 2021 EP Getting Through and it's all punchy, glowing techno figures that hit your cortex like sonic paintballs.
Shabason, Krgovich & Harris, "A beautiful white dog"
I was a huge fan of Shabason, Krgovich & Harris' 2020 record Philadelphia and the 2021 companion piece Florence was just as good to me, even as it recontextualized melodies and motifs from its predecessor...I had Nicholas on the newsletter at the top of this year and it was a great conversation, you can read it right here.
Benji. and Spillage Village, "Black Satin" [ft. Jordan Hawkins]
Been digging through the Spillage Village releases since I enjoyed 2020's Spilligion (specifically, the single "Baptize," which also made the Best Songs of 2020 list), it's pretty ropey across the board admittedly but I thought this low-key song from Benji.'s 2021 record Smile, You're Alive! possessed a similar low-key charm as "Baptize," even as it comes close to sounding like MAGIC!'s "Rude"...I may or may not feature some more Spillage cuts in the distant future, we'll see.