Baker's Dozen: Rita Indiana, Duke Deuce, and—I Can't Believe I'm Typing This—Kings of Leon

Baker’s Dozen is a weekly thing for paid subscribers where I share a playlist and some thoughts on the music I’ve been listening to.

Danny L Harle and DJ Mayhem, "Shining Stars"

Incredible song off a frequently dazzling album. DJ Mayhem is an alias for Hudson Mohawke, which makes sense. When I was in the studio with him while reporting the FADER cover story (Google it, I'm not linking to that publication anymore until they start employing more than one full-time editor), HudMo was playing a fair amount of Gammer and we were talking a bit about how good real-deal happy hardcore is. Love shit that sounds like this.

Alicia Keys, "Jill Scott" [ft. Jill Scott]

People only pay attention to Alicia Keys' music when they feel like it, which is a shame because every album has at least a few straight-up heaters. A few tracks on Alicia (like this one) are at least as good as when she covered "Lucid Dreams" at the Grammys out of nowhere.

Kings of Leon, "100,000 People"

Everyone criticizes our few-and-far-between rock giants for sounding too weightless, while I only like them when they sound that way. This song could hang with the two or three dece songs on the last Mumford and Sons album (insert joke about the fashy-sympathizing bassist here). Otherwise, make no mistake, these guys remain the fucking worst.

Rita Indiana, "Como un Dragón"

Good shit.

Roosevelt, "Closer to My Heart"

My wife forgot who Roosevelt was until I reminded her that he had a blog-hit song ("Elliot") right around the time we saw Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs at Le Poisson Rouge. Roosevelt is typically solid at the not-totally-original-but-still-quite-tuneful dance-pop mode, but he's more affecting at doing a Fleetwood Mac-ish thing. (Fittingly, he did a cover of "Everywhere" for a W Hotels sponcon thing that, full disclosure, I ended up making a chunk of cash off of.)

Cloud Nothings, "The Room It Was"

Cloud Nothings are increasingly becoming one of the most reliable bands to me—I know there's at least a chance I'll like their new album, and an even stronger chance I'll love it. Dylan's getting rawer and more tuneful with his songwriting at the same time, this is simply a great album-closer as well.

Laura Mvula, "I'm Still Waiting (1/f Version)"

Great Diana Ross cover, really excited for the new album.

Go Dam, "I'm Not Glad to See You"

A few really solid burners from last year's Harvest Vol. 1 compilation via Bangkok label More Rice, this is one of them. Next few Baker's Dozens will feature the others too.

Armani Ceasar, "Countdown"

Looking to Jokerify my entire readership by constantly putting Griselda tracks on here...how's it going. The first time I heard The Liz I was like, "OK! This is pretty good." Recently revisited it and was less enthused, but it has its moments, this being one of them.

Marie Davidson and L'OEil Nu, "Renegade Breakdown"

Marie Davidson is quite literally on some other shit, it is only an insult to me when I say that I often feel like I am not smart enough for what she is doing. But I remain fascinated by her work! She seems like a true original to me.

Duke Deuce, "ARMY"

The Duke Deuce tape is ropey, this sounds pretty solidly like "his Big Song" to me. It's also a pretty depressing song, to me! Really drawn to the bravado even as it does get a bit unsettling at times.

MC Eiht, "That 83" [ft. Tha Chill and Diamond Rich]

Laid-back shit I vibe with, a few cuts on Lessons are strong like this. MC Eiht, an artist I do not know a ton about! Someone should put together a primer—not me, though, for obvious reasons.

Deradoorian, "Saturnine Night"

Not usually into Angel Deradoorian's solo stuff in the past but the most recend record was good! Has a Broadcast-y tinge which, of course, I'm a sucker for. Once knew a guy that was obsessed with trying to meet her or something when she lived in the same town as him (he won't see this because, despite telling me he was going to sign up for a paying subscription, he never did—which is fine, but why would you even tell me you were going to if you weren't, that's somehow worse to me than noted millionaire and current NFT-hawker Ryan Schreiber only signing up for the free version). Anyway, men simply cannot leave women alone, it's a travesty.