Pops Magellan Pushes Aggressive Bass Into Another Dimension on Unsolicited Jams
Pops Magellan has been on my radar for a while now and her debut EP, Damage, ended up being my favorite releases of 2025. That record felt like Pops building her own strange little musical universe with bass at the center surrounded by synths, electronic textures, funk, psychedelia and a whole lot of personality.
Unsolicited Jams feels a little different.
This time it sounds less like a carefully constructed studio world and more like a really great band getting into a room, plugging in and seeing where the music takes them.
The new EP consists entirely of covers with Pops taking on The Chemical Brothers’ “Go,” Radiohead’s “National Anthem” and Parliament’s “Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples.” There is technically a fourth track called “TBC,” but at around a minute long, this really feels like three massive pieces of music rather than a traditional four song EP.
And massive is probably the right word.
The three main tracks stretch into the eight and nine minute range. In an era where it sometimes feels like songs are being engineered to get to the chorus before you can swipe away, there is something incredibly refreshing about hearing musicians just let something develop and build.
That live energy is probably the biggest difference between Unsolicited Jams and Damage. The electronic and psychedelic elements are still there, but the center has shifted toward the band and everybody on this thing is playing at an incredibly high level.
Guitarist Artur Menezes especially deserves some attention. There is some seriously great guitar work all over this EP with huge solos, nasty riffs, texture, and plenty of moments where he and Pops seem to be pushing each other further out into space. It never feels like guitar sitting on top of a bass driven record. It feels like a band reacting to each other in real time.
Another thing I really love about Pops is that she does not shy away from effects.
Her bass is drenched in them throughout this EP. Octave sounds, synth textures, fuzz and all kinds of weirdness become part of the language of the music rather than something added on top of it. She is one of the players right now who seems completely comfortable making aggressive bass sounds a focal point and I think she is helping push that approach forward.
Why I love it so much is that she never turns into a bass player’s band.
If you did not know Pops or know that she was leading the project, you might not immediately assume the bass player was the person at the center of it. The songs still feel like they belong to the whole band. The guitar gets room. The drums get room. The keys get room. Pops brings a ton of character and energy to the bass but she never lets the effects or the playing pull focus away from the music itself.
That balance is a big part of what makes this record work for me. It also sounds fantastic.
The drums are huge. The bass is clear and powerful without swallowing everything around it and there is a lot of contrast between instruments. The whole thing sounds big without feeling cluttered. You can turn it up and live inside this thing for a while.
My favorite track is “National Anthem,” although I should disclose that I am a massive Radiohead fan, so Pops had a slight head start there.
Still, this does not feel like a band simply covering Radiohead. It takes the original idea and launches it somewhere else. It gets chaotic without losing the groove, which is a pretty good description of what makes Pops interesting in the first place.
I have also been lucky enough to watch this part of Pops’ career unfold pretty close up.
I caught her band at Andy’s Jazz Club here in Chicago earlier this year, and later got to see her at Sweetwater Studios. She also stopped through the FRET12 shop at The Salt Shed for a session that gave another look at what happens when this music gets out of the studio and into a room with musicians.
There is something really cool about watching an artist build this in real time.
Damage established her world.
Unsolicited Jams feels like the next stage of the trip.
It is looser. It is more spontaneous. It is more curious. It gives the musicians space, lets the songs stretch, and uses familiar material as a launch pad rather than a destination.
From where I am sitting, it feels like we are only seeing lift off.
Unsolicited Jams is streaming now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and other digital platforms. Magellan will celebrate the EP’s release with a show at the Baked Potato Jazz Club in Los Angeles on October 25th.
No Treble CEO Jody Miller is a Chicago-based bassist, guitarist, engineer, and producer best known for his bass gear demo videos and as the co-host of The Bass Nerds podcast.
