Baker's Dozen: Moontype, Shy Glizzy, and What It Takes to be Babyface

Baker's Dozen is a weekly thing for paid subscribers where I share a playlist of stuff I've been listening to as well as comments on the music that's featured on it.

Slow Pulp, "Idaho"

This is what I meant when I said on Twitter a few weeks ago that the current sound of indie rock is Soccer Mommy's Color Theory. Not a bad thing of course, that record is excellent and the Slow Pulp album is solid too, just remarkable how much this thing sounds like, well, another thing.

A.A. Bondy, "Fentanyl Freddy"

Have heard this guy's name forever and never bothered to really listen closely, this is from his 2019 album which I found more "interesting" than "good" but this is a quietly stunning song. Obviously a little Arthur Russell going on here, you could probably draw a line between this and all of the fake James Blake types too.

Rico Nasty, "Again"

Love Rico Nasty and finally got around to giving a real listen to Anger Management, her project with Kenny Beats from 2019 (at this point I'm finding it more rewarding to go listen to albums from one, two, or three years ago divorced from context than it is to keep up with the digital rat race of "But what's my opinion on Donda?!?!"). I'm not sure I understand Kenny Beats' appeal beyond "white boy that works with respected just-below-mainstream-level rappers," don't think he has an identifiable style but I'm also not, like, a Kenny Beats scholar or anything like that. But as I said I love Rico and she has two modes she works extremely well in: Mudvayne-esque shouting and emo melodic rap, and this is more of the second mode of course. "Sometimes I get distracted by madness/ Why do tragedies happen? What if I'm not adapting/ Friends posting pictures, I'm like where was I when this happened?" That's real.

Young Dolph and Key Glock, "Aspen"

Colorado. I like the new Dolph + Glock project a lot, it took me more than a week to cull down which track I'd include on here and then I saw the esteemed Sam Donsky include this one on his mid-year best-of list and I was like, yeah, I think that guy's right about this.

Shy Glizzy, "Volcano"

"I wake up every morning, fuck my bitch, and do my burpees." Incredible mantra.

Ty Dolla $ign, "Everywhere"

Ty Dolla $ign is a genius, which feels under-acknowledged at this point? He's basically the new Babyface, which is not an insult to the one and only, still-living and still-turning-out-bangers-as-of-2015 Kenneth Brian Edmonds (go back and listen to Return of the Tender Lover). The man loves to spin gold out of a concept, and on this track the concept is quite simple: She wants to fuck everywhere. Incredible songwriting, incredible voice, incredible artist, we are lucky to have him in the world.

Ela Minus, "close" [ft. Helado Negro]

Kind of an outlier on the Ela Minus record but I like it a lot, some of the darker materials are cool too and overall an artist I'm looking to hear more from in the future.

Bktherula, "Summer"

Song has a weird and alluring glow to it, feels like kind of a unique sound even though you can trace parts of it back to other stuff going on in rap and pop in general.

Kedr Livanskiy, "Sky Kisses (на танцполе)"

You know how hard it is to copy and paste Russian without making a total mess of the backend over here? It's not easy! Kedr's got a new record coming out soon I think, I really like this one from her last LP because it's very deep house-y. A lot of her stuff walks the "Does this sound like Grimes or does this sound like SALEM" line, which increasingly makes me think that Grimes is witch house? Who knows.

Facta, "Verge"

The type of spotless and clinical micro-techno that you'd hear in a coffeeshop in Amsterdam, but it's pretty and it works, so.

Pink Siifu and Fly Anakin, "Blame"

Awesome sample on this, sounds like it's bleeding all over the song. Good record!

Moontype, "Lush"

A perfect indie rock song, record slays too, stuff like this feels in short supply sometimes but I actually think most of us just aren't looking hard enough for it.

Francis of Delirium, "I Think I'm Losing"

Another perfect indie rock song, just of a different flavor. They're from Luxembourg?!? Maybe I'm reading things wrong.